Bug Off
by bugsuit
Summary: A story about starting fresh in Sinnoh. Will mostly be anecdotal stories about an OC trainer's adventures in the region. (?) Whoops jk it evolved plot. Ongoing!
1. Get Going!

_This is my first published fic in quite some time, and definitely the first posted to since the big purge of '08 or whenever it was I deleted all my old stuff. I got nostalgic for Sinnoh and I'm going to try and update this to cover all of the little adventure plot bunnies I had about obtaining new Pokemon, visiting game locations and interacting with the world in general, so expect this to be pretty self-indulgent. But hey, that's what OC trainer fics are for, right?_

 _Agender trainer, they/them pronouns might feel a little awkward at first for some readers and while I get used to using them in prose. Nickname will probably be explained later. Just roll with it! :^)_

 _Edit: now with 100% less HORRID FORMATTING what on earth was going on there I mean really_

* * *

"Yeah, dad, I'll call when I hit Oreburgh later. Listen, I've got to finish getting ready, we're almost at the Lab…"

"Yeah, no worries, we'll speak to you later on. Your mother says be careful."

"I will. Love you. Bye."

Bug tapped a button on their old PokeGear and powered it down, sticking it in a side pocket of their bag along with a couple of extra PokeBalls.

Normally, a trainer preparing for their first foray into such a big journey would be far more excited, or perhaps nervous. Bug, however, was feeling fairly calm about the whole thing. Aged a full seventeen years old, they'd already been through the whole thing a few times before - once in Kanto, once in Johto, and a half-hearted stumble through Hoenn had left them feeling pretty accustomed to the Pokemon trainer life.

Still, it was national League rules that if a trainer chose to tackle the Elite Four outside of their home region, they had to start fresh - only new Pokemon they'd never trained before were permitted to be added to their team from start to finish. It was only fair to the local competition, after all, and it was good incentive for trainers to get to know some of the regional Pokemon.

Despite this, no one had said anything about the starter Pokemon being regional. It was trainer's pick, after all, and a lot of people considered this to be the most important choice in a trainer's life. Getting to make it all over again didn't lessen that impact any.

"Toto! Toto-to-todile!"

Bug grinned and bopped the little alligator Pokemon on its nose, shooing it away from their belongings scattered all over the back seats. "Yeah, I'm working on it! Keep your scales on, pal. I'll be done soon. What, you want to jump out of the taxi without snacks?"

Instantly the Totodile hopped backwards, and frantically waved its claws back and forth. "Toto!"

"That's what I thought. Paws off until I'm done. If you want to help…" Bug pulled a wad of paper from their shorts pocket, holding it out for the Totodile to grab. "Take this and make sure I don't put it in my bag. That's my passport, my documents, and everything I'll need to hand to Professor Rowan in about five minutes. Don't lose it. Okay?"

Eyes glittering at the prospect of being trusted with something so important, the Totodile gave a happy leap and dodged forwards to take the papers in its jaws, stepping back into place a moment later and giving an awkward salute with one stubby arm.

Bug smiled again, going back to shoving a stubbornly oversized sleeping bag into their backpack. "Good girl. You're gonna be a winner, I can tell. Psyched?"

 _"Brrgh!"_

The taxi driver leaned back in his seat, giving a low whistle. "Heh, I was sorta worried about you starting all over. Y'know - Sinnoh ain't a cakewalk. But you seem pretty seasoned. He angled the mirror to take a quick look at the trainer in the back, winking when they looked up in surprise. "You sure you ain't breaking any rules with that Totodile? She seems pretty accustomed to you already."

Bug grinned nervously. "Yeah, she's new, I promise. But I'm glad you think so. I'm quite happy with her, and I'd like to think she is with me."

"You got that right. Y'know, my mom always said Pokemon could sense if their handler was competent."

"Whatevs. I'm just happy to be back in the game. I made kind of a lazy mess of it in Hoenn."

"New start?" the driver hazarded.

Bug nodded, managing to stuff a couple of chocolate bars in with the rest of their things. "You can say that again. Hoenn just didn't take to me, I suppose."

"Well, no better place than Sinnoh. Just make sure you wrap up warm. It's gonna be a long winter this year."

Half an hour and a rather bumpy country track later, Bug stepped out of the taxi and set foot into Sandgem Town, the Totodile standing on the top of their bag and expressing its excitement with happy little chomps of its jaws.

Once the driver had been paid and the taxi sped off the way it had come, Bug turned in a full circle, savouring the frosty air and trying to get a feel for the place.

There was only one real reason they'd started off in Sandgem, and they headed straight for it: the Laboratory building.

After a couple of knocks, an Aide let them into the warmth of the Pokemon Lab, and they began the process of filling out paperwork.

"I mean, I thought Rowan would oversee this, to be honest."

The Aide adjusted her glasses and nodded. "Normally. But he's away on business right now. I'm sorry if this makes it feel less special, but we are all in training - we know what we're doing."

"Oh, no! No, I didn't mean… I'm just used to the Professors giving their signatures, I guess. Sorry." Hurriedly, Bug scrawled their full name on the sheets, and slid them across the desk to the Aide.

She laughed, shaking her head, and began filling out the rest of the boxes. "No problem! But hey, if you want to meet him, take a look for him in Veilstone whenever you're passing through. He ends up there quite a lot." She glanced up. "Okay. Totodile, right? What level?"

"Five. No special moves. Female."

"She's cute. Where'd you get her?"

The Totodile looked away, snorting impishly. Bug smirked. "Actually, she's the daughter of a Johto starter. I didn't know the owner of the parent too well, but I got her father in a trade, and the egg hatched here in Sinnoh." Bug nudged the Pokemon forwards, encouraging her to make nice with the Professor's helper. "I spent a few months on a ranch just outside Floaroma while she hatched and grew up a bit, but it turns out she's just as eager to get going as I am."

The Aide offered a hand, which the little Totodile took suspiciously at first, turning it over and examining her palm. Then it shook it, enthused, and the Aide laughed.

"She's got quite the grip. I'm glad to see a Pokemon so enthusiastic."

Bug smiled sheepishly and stuck their hands in the pockets of their huge, puffy coat. Totodile snapped her jaws happily. "I may have told her a few stories. I'm not exactly a new trainer."

"Yes, I can see that from your paperwork. Just don't get too Tauros-headed. Sinnoh will be just as much of a challenge as your first time."

"Understood." Bug picked up the Totodile, turning it face-to-face and giving it a stern look. "You hear that too, right, Rexxie?" The Totodile blinked, unfazed, and stuck out its tongue.

* * *

An hour later, Bug was crouching in the grass on Route 202, one hand gently pressing down on Rexxie's head to keep her close to the floor, and the other digging in a bag pocket for a Pokeball.

"Stay still until I tell you, okay?" They were rewarded with a serious nod. "Okay. I want you to step out and Leer at it, then hit it with a Scratch. Don't knock it out, okay?"

Waiting for the Pokemon to nod again in understanding, Bug quickly lifted their hand from the Totodile's head. Raring to go, the little Pokemon leapt straight out of the grass and into action, giving a short call of attention.

The small, fluffy Pokemon that was being targeted raised its head lazily from its sprawled position on a rock, tail flicking uncertainly as it found itself being glared at with all the intensity a baby alligator could muster.

"Shi?" The Pokemon looked mildly unsettled, opting to hop to its feet and pose itself warily into a (clumsy-looking) defensive stance.

"Good! Now, go for it!"

"Dile!" The water-type dashed forwards, claws at the ready, and managed to strike the confused Shinx with a solid hit before it managed to shake off its surprise and rush in for a Tackle of its own.

It was at this point Bug tossed the Pokeball they'd been holding at the ready, and before its attack could make contact, the Shinx let out a cut-off cry as it was struck on the forehead by the Pokeball and disappeared into it in a flash of red light.

"Okay, now hold back! Don't approach until it-"

With a soft click and a familiar pinging sound, the Pokeball stopped shaking and went still.

Bug straightened up, feeling unusually excited about the capture, and found themselves unable to look away from the Pokeball, a slow grin spreading across their face.

"This is it, kiddo."

Rexxie turned to look back at her trainer, tilting her head questioningly. For her first battle, that had ended somewhat abruptly.

"This is what I've been chasing since Hoenn. I'm gonna do good here. I can feel it." Bug felt their excitement rise, both fists clenching hard and drawing close to their chest, and with an uncontrolled grin they let out a loud whoop of triumph, practically dancing forwards to scoop the Ball up off the ground. "This is it, buddy! You and me, we're gonna be marvellous!"

Sensing this was praise after all, the Totodile abruptly burst out into happy bouncing, joining her trainer in celebration. If that kind of a rush was normal, she was thrilled to be a part of it.

"Ha! Okay, let's get this newbie to a Pokemon Centre. I want him in top condition, stat!" Bug paused, glancing down at the Ball in their hand. "Stat. Like static. I kind of like that. What do you think?"

"Toto!"

* * *

 _R &R welcome. Let me know if there are any glaring errors. This one is short as openers go, but thanks for reading anyway!_


	2. Eager Beaver

_Cranked out another chapter today because I'm eager to get this thing on the road so I don't lose interest. There's a battle in this one! Also, some friendly inhabitants of the Pokemon world._

 _Times I can be bothered to use the accented é: only when it's an in-game brand, apparently._

* * *

"Hi! I'm the President of the Pokétch company, and- oh, good grief. What is that you have there?"

Apparently waving their current device at the friendly man wasn't going to do much. Bug lowered their hand and grinned sheepishly. "Er," they offered helplessly.

"Is that a Pokégear?"

"Yeah. First-"

"A _first-edition_ Pokégear. You never thought to upgrade?" The man looked fairly incredulous.

Bug couldn't help it. They burst out laughing for a long moment, wiggling the ancient device like that might explain what their words currently couldn't. They took a deep breath and straightened up. "Oh, well, you know," they grinned, "of course I _thought_ about it. But it - it was a hand-me-down from my dad, and it works fine, so..."

The man let out a dismayed groan, dramatically distressed by the archaic technology the trainer was showing off. "Dear, me. I haven't seen one of those for years. Please - you're in Sinnoh now! This is the future! Allow me to give you-"

"No, I- that's fine, really, I'm happy with - oh. Well," Bug stuttered to an inconclusive halt as the man thrust an advanced-looking watch at their wrist. "I don't need... Okay."

"I insist. Free of charge. You can keep that old thing if you want to, but you'll be needing something a little more reliable to get you through Sinnoh."

 _Does it do phone calls, though?_ Against their better judgement, Bug decided to stay silent. Technology could be such a touchy issue. Still, they couldn't help the smirk that spread across their face.

Luckily, the man seemed to take this as encouragement. "Yes, yes! There, you see? Everyone's happier with an update like that. Now, you take care of yourself, Trainer! You've a long way to go before you're League-ready!" He gave a sociable wink to the Totodile currently peering over the top of her trainer's head, and the Pokemon responded with an agreeable noise.

As reluctant as they'd been to accept the "upgrade", Bug couldn't stay aloof. It was, after all, free stuff - and after so long spent adventuring, free stuff was pretty much the way to any wise trainer's heart. They fiddled with the watch for a moment, adjusting the fit, and then held out their hand with a conspiratorial look. "Thanks. And I do mean it. I suppose I'm just a bit attached to my old travel gear, but it's very kind of you."

The man gave a jovial laugh and shook hands firmly. "Think nothing of it! I'm hardly averse to giving out a few freebies." He tapped his nose knowingly, and Bug grinned back.

A few minutes later, Bug sat in a cafe in one of the tall commercial buildings, flicking through the Pokétch with a bemused expression. Rexxie sat on their lap, drumming its claws on the edge of the table in no particular rhythm.

"Well, it has a calculator. Can you do maths, Rexxie?"

"...To," it admitted reproachfully.

Bug grinned. "Great, me neither. Which means this will probably come in handy. I won't lie, this thing is kind of sweet." They held their wrist up to the light, making the purple Pokétch glint slightly, and leaned back in their seat. "It's brand new, too. Sinnoh doesn't mess around with the free gear. Wonder if it's waterproof."

Switching back and forth from the clock to the calculator a few times, Bug froze with their coffee halfway to their mouth. "Oh, jeez, it's almost four! We've been here way too long, Rexxie. C'mon, we're supposed to be making good time, what are you doing distracting me like this?" they teased, hurriedly nudging the disgruntled Totodile off their lap and rushing to zip up their oversized coat.

The good thing about being a veteran trainer was that you always tended to come prepared. Bug was no exception, and even as they stepped out into the cold, neither trainer nor Pokemon felt it much - right after leaving the cafe, Rexxie had seized the opportunity to complain her way into the huge coat, and just the tip of her snout poked out of the neck hole next to Bug's chin to give the occasional comfortable snort of frosty breath.

As they made their way west, the weather took a turn for the worst - perhaps incensed by Bug's impenetrable fortress of a coat, or perhaps to spite the younger trainers caught unawares in city clothes that were trying to train along Route 203's slopes. Hail began to rain down, chipping unpleasantly at Bug's face and making them wince a little. Rexxie retreated all the way into their coat in a disdainful huff, but the trainer was not deterred.

A couple of the pluckier young trainers along the route dared each other to challenge the taller, imposing-looking trainer to a battle, and it surprised them when the more experienced-looking traveller sent out a sleepy-looking Shinx. This surprise was well-met when the trainer's commands seemed to lead their Pokemon to victory in each battle, commanding quick dodges and making good use of the electricity it could hold in its fur. Still, the weather didn't let up, and after a while Bug opted for the safer option of simply running the rest of the way to the cave entrance at the end of the route.

As they entered the cave, their coat showering hail onto the rocky floor, they had to take a moment to adjust to the cave's dim light. With a start, Bug automatically stepped backwards and nearly tripped over their Shinx - they were being confronted with a multitude of beady eyes, staring vacantly right at them.

"Bii," a voice chattered.

"Doof."

"Bibi."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Bug chuckled lightly. Ahead of them, an expansive family of Bidoof had apparently had the same idea for shelter; there were at least ten huddled together on the cave floor, and another four keeping watch on top of rocks. Bug gently slid a leg in front of their Shinx, who was visibly bristling, and held up their hands in mock surrender.

"Just passing through. We won't fight if you won't. Get it?"

The pudgy-looking rodent Pokemon glanced at each other, a quiet ripple of consideration going through the crowd, and then they seemed to settle back down. Bug grinned, as content with this outcome as they were, and quietly moved further into the cave to get out of the draughty entranceway, Shinx trotting along in wary pursuit.

"Good choice," came a voice from somewhere further along. In the gloom, it took Bug a moment to place the source, but this became more understandable when it seemed the speaker was currently situated under a confusing mass of Pokemon. Bug squinted hard. "Sorry. Uh, guys? Could you give me a little space? Or - haha, at least a line of sight...?"

All at once, the pile of Pokemon shifted, showing it to be made up of Grass types - an odd choice of blanket, but a good type choice for a starting trainer. Bug raised their brows.

"Cute."

The stranger laughed, patting their knees invitingly. The spurned Pokemon eagerly clamoured back around him, though this time in a less restricting manner. "I'm training them for contests. And, uh, aromatherapy. It's a long story. Though they don't seem to like the cold much."

"I expect not," Bug remarked. "Any reason they're all out of their Pokeballs?"

"Well, they're a little... um, affectionate." The boy looked a little embarrassed, but reached over to pet a Budew fondly. "They're only little. They like to be around me, even if it's cold."

"Well - you know Oreburgh is just past here, according to the map, right?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, the Pokemon Centre is just a stone's throw from the exit, but my Pokemon didn't want to go out in the hail. Go figure."

"They're still sweet, though. Will you evolve them?"

"Eventually," he replied, after some thought. "Ideally, as soon as possible, but I don't want any of these guys to feel pressured and evolve too fast. They're family too, you know?"

Bug grinned. "Good choice," they parroted. "Yeah, I do know. You'll be good at what you do, I think."

The Shinx by their side seemed to be eyeing up the boy and his Grass types with a keen expression, and after a moment, turned to tug gently on its own trainer's long coat. "Shii-shinx."

Bug glanced down, and abruptly felt their chin brush against the top of their Totodile's head. Rexxie gave a huff.

"Okay, okay, I get it, Stat. Not fair, is it?" They cast about for a dry bit of floor, and settled against a cave wall with their legs stretched out in front. Happily, the Shinx bounded over to duck inside the coat Bug held open for it, and the ensuing rummage for space between the two Pokemon had Bug looking mildly uncomfortable for a couple of minutes.

"You going for the Gym challenge?" the boy asked, watching the awkward lumps moving around under the coat with some amusement.

Bug sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm more interested in exploring, but they ask for proof you're tough enough before they let you go anywhere really cool. I've travelled before, though, so it shouldn't be too difficult."

The boy smiled, hugging his Pokemon a little closer to himself. "I dunno if I could do that. I live in Sinnoh, so I've got friends that have been all over, but... man, the route to Snowpoint sounds tough. And I'd never put these guys through Victory Road." He petted a Sunkern comfortingly, and it gave a happy chatter and waggled its leaves.

Bug smiled faintly. "You ever heard of a Chikorita?"

The boy thought for a moment. "Oh, right. Yeah. The grass-type from Johto, right? I think my grandma started with one of those."

"It'd suit you to a tee. Evolves all flowery, just like all of those guys." They gestured vaguely to the gaggle of seed-like Pokemon the boy was harbouring, and he grinned.

"Yeah, but it was hard enough getting an Oddish. Importing Pokemon is kind of hard when you're on a flower shop budget."

Bug shrugged. "I could get you one. I already - well, I've been to Johto before, so I still have contacts there. I could get you a Chikorita, easy. Give it a couple of weeks."

The boy's eyes widened a little. "What, just like that? I mean - if it's no trouble, that'd be awesome. My mom would be happy, too. But you don't need to put yourself out there. We just met, after all." He grinned. "Which reminds me. My name's Jacen. And, uh, I'm sixteen. Older than I look. Just thought you should know."

"I'm seventeen. And, uh, Bug. It's a nickname, but I don't think anyone's called me anything else in a few years."

"Uh-huh. Just don't go eating my rose garden or anything."

 _"Funny."_

The boy just laughed, eliciting an amicable smile from Bug, and while the weather hurled its worst at the land outside, they waited out the hailstorm in friendly company. Bug was reluctant to tell any real stories about their previous travels - admitting success in other regions only made people expect big things of you, they'd found, but Jacen seemed fairly disinterested in the Gym circuit and eventually they began to open up.

"So what's different so far? I know you said you haven't been in Sinnoh for long, but I heard everywhere feels different. I've never left, but you've gotta admit, places like Kanto look like a far cry from Sinnoh."

Bug nodded. "Yeah, true. Well... first off, so far, the Pokemon have been friendlier."

"Wow. Really?" Jacen blinked. "I've met some real angry Combee that would disagree."

"Ha, well, if those Bidoof over there were Rattata we'd have to offer more than a friendly hello to avoid a bite or two. They're a lot more territorial. And smaller, so you probably wouldn't think it."

Jacen nodded. "Well, maybe they're compensating."

Bug grinned, still gazing off at the huddle of Bidoof. "Rattata are the cutest thing ever, honestly. But Bidoof are so soft-looking. It's a wonder they're as feisty as they are."

"Well, that's Pokemon for you. The ones that don't look like much sometimes pack a real punch."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Yeah. A _bad_ experience. With, like," Jacen feigned counting on his fingers, _"eighty Combee."_ A pause. And then, in a mock-scathing voice - _"Bug."_

After a second, the two began laughing in earnest.

* * *

"Well, this is it. Gym numero uno. You guys ready?"

"To-dile!"

"Shii!"

Bug grinned and knelt down to pet her two Pokemon in response. After a day's hard training and a night's well-deserved rest, Rexxie and Stat were eager to put their skills to good practice. Well, Rexxie certainly was. Stat's enthusiasm rarely matched up, but on this occasion, it didn't have to.

"Stat, you'll probably be sitting back in the wings. I'm fairly confident Rexxie will be able to carry us through this one, but don't fall asleep on me - just in case. Got that?"

"Shinx."

"Rexxie, feeling psyched?"

"Totooo!" The Totodile growled and struck a confident pose, tapping its chest lightly with a fist.

"You betcha. Okay, let's go. According to the Gym referee, we can still catch him at the Gym if we get there before the lunch hour is over. Busy guy, apparently."

Oreburgh Gym was fairly unassuming on the outside, but Bug had learned not to take that sort of thing at face value. True enough, once they were passing through the reinforced glass doors, the inside was a challenging-looking terrain. The ground had been artificially hewn into rough angles and steep cliffs, and Bug found themselves hoping Rexxie would be nimble enough to use them to their advantage.

From the very top of the Pokemon-made landscape, a young man waved a red hard hat at the incoming challenger, taking a moment to finish a mouthful of sandwich before calling out, "Hey, there! Give me a second and I'll register you! Did you bring your card?"

Bug hurriedly reached into their pocket and pulled out a beat-up looking dim purple card, frayed at the edges and with several years' worth of new passport photos glued over the top of old ones. Roark squinted at it from his high perch, and his brows raised.

"Whoa. That thing's ancient. Heh, okay, bring it up here when you're ready! Sorry, I'm just scarfing lunch..."

"No rush," Bug called back, pocketing the card and tossing their coat onto the ground by the door. Underneath they'd opted for practicality - a while before Sinnoh, they had invested in a formfitting full-body suit, with purple streaks along the side and a distinctive grinning Gengar face emblazoned on the left of the chest. It was a good purchase, all in all, designed for trainers and with all sorts of weather and wear-and-tear in mind. Over the top, Bug had opted for a white vest, a smart-casual black jacket, a pair of white capri shorts, and some black-purple-teal trainers that (quite accidentally) had more detail than the rest of their ensemble combined. It wasn't for formal occasions, but for a serious trainer, it checked all the boxes.

Roark had his suspicions confirmed.

"You've been around, huh? I thought you looked older than most of my challengers. Got a taste for Sinnoh yet?" He took another bite of his sandwich, watching the restarted trainer make a haphazard effort at climbing the cliffs.

"Er," Bug responded, missing a handhold and flailing madly for a second, "yeah. Sort of. You could say that." They swung their leg up in a fairly undignified manner and scrambled to their feet, dusting off their hands and turning to watch Rexxie leap up skilfully after them. "My Pokemon more than me. But that's why I'm going in for a badge or two. I want to see the whole region, even the scary parts."

Roark grinned, taking the Trainer Card that was offered and pulling up an app on his Pokétch. "My, this thing looks older than my Pokemon. I'm guessing you already have a good handle on training, right?"

"Don't worry, I started fresh," Bug cut in hurriedly. Roark laughed.

"No, I know. I'm just saying you're the type to know your Pokemon. That's good. But Sinnoh is a pretty unforgiving place, especially in the northern areas. Don't drop your guard just because you get along with Pokemon. They won't be your biggest problem." He winked. "Friendly advice, that's all. Okay, I have your ID punched in. This is attempt number one. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Bug nodded, feeling a familiar thrill run through them, and stepped backwards to the scuffed marker painted on the rocky floor.

Roark took up position, a half-eaten sandwich still in his hand, and tossed a Pokeball into the air. "Go, Geodude!"

Rexxie bounced into place in front of her trainer, and Roark gave a high whistle to signify the match had begun. More casual than Bug was used to, but just as useful as any other signal.

"Rexxie, use Water Gun!"

The Geodude swung out of the way and pounded its fists together. Roark ordered a quick Stealth Rock, and the Pokemon quickly swept its jagged arm over the terrain, scattering most of the more pointed rocks over onto Rexxie's side of the field.

A second Water Gun hit it square in the face, and Geodude went down.

"Predictable, but there's your hazard. Glad I got _something_ in. Geodude, return! Go, Onix!"

Even as the huge rock-type loomed over Rexxie, she didn't seem fazed. If anything, the bigger opponent only seemed to encourage her more. Rexxie hopped from foot to foot, tiny claws curled into angry fists, and Bug grinned.

"You remind me of Brock," they commented. "Rexxie! Scary Face!"

The tiny Totodile stomped one foot after the other, and promptly bared all of its teeth with a hulking attempt at making itself look bigger. Despite the diminutive size, at least the glowing red eyes it was showing off seemed to have an effect on Roark's Onix. It blinked uncertainly.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Roark laughed. "Onix! Use Screech!"

Immediately, the Onix opened its mouth and let out a high-pitched roar. Rexxie stumbled backwards, momentarily shocked.

"Now Rock Throw!"

"Dodge it!"

Rexxie perked up at the sound of its trainer's voice, and thanks to the moment's hesitation accounted to Scary Face, she managed to dart out of the way in time.

Bug staggered to one side to avoid a loose piece of rock that clattered in their direction, and decided it was time for a change of pace. "Rexxie! Staircase!"

Roark blinked, the unorthodox 'move' setting him off guard for a moment, but the order was just as straightforward as it seemed. Rexxie leapt around to Onix's tail and hopped up onto it, running energetically up its back.

"Try to shake it off-!"

"Water Gun!"

The smaller Pokemon leapt up when it reached the slowed Onix's head, and sprayed a jet of water straight down. Onix crashed facefirst into the ground, and stayed down. Rexxie landed on the defeated Pokemon's back and hopped up and down, chanting excitedly.

"Good job, Onix!" Roark returned Onix to its Pokeball, causing Rexxie to fall further than expected and wobble to one side. "Alright, this is where Brock and I differ! Go, Cranidos!"

The hard-headed Pokemon appeared in a bloom of white light, and Rexxie faltered as it gave an ear-piercing roar.

Unfazed, Bug gave it a moment's once-over and called out a new order. "Rexxie! Jump down!"

The Cranidos gave a growl as the smaller blue Pokemon obediently charged over to the side of the platform and hopped off the edge, landing neatly on one of the lower cliff edges and turning back to stick its tongue out at its foe.

"Good strategy, but will it be enough? Cranidos, Leer!"

Momentarily set off balance by the intimidating look being shot down at her, Rexxie paused a fraction too long. Cranidos jumped down and a moment later followed a command to Headbutt the smaller Pokemon off the side again, lowering the battle to ground level.

Both trainers stood at the edge of the top layer of rock, firing commands down at their Pokemon below.

"Rexxie, use Water Gun and then circle!"

"Cranidos, follow it with Pursuit!"

The two Pokemon ran in a quick circuit of the protruding rocky cliffs, the Totodile chanting its name in what looked to be an adrenaline rush, and then at a final order from Bug, it whirled around with a lash of water and sprayed the other Pokemon straight in the face. With its heavier body still working with its momentum, Cranidos didn't have a chance at dodging.

The fossil Pokemon thumped to the ground with an uneasy splutter.

Roark grinned. "Nice work! Really, that was fun. A lot of challengers don't use the terrain at all - the whole battle takes place at the top. It's nice to fight someone more experienced, even if we lost." He returned his last Pokemon to its ball, and after tucking it away in one of the pouches at his waist, pulled a shiny-looking badge out of the other. "You earned this."

Bug took a second for the grin to split their face in half, still riding the rush from their first battle of the Sinnoh Gym circuit. "Thanks, Roark. It's been cool. Uh, really cool. Never seen a Cranidos in person before." They took the badge with a grateful nod, and for lack of anywhere else to put it, decided to pin it to their backpack for the time being. "I'll see you around, maybe? Good luck with your - stuff."

"Not so articulate after some excitement, huh?" Roark laughed heartily and gestured to the exit. "You go on. I'll finish my lunch. Have a good trip around Sinnoh!"

Bug scooped up their Totodile from where it had been trying tiredly to scale the last cliff back up to them both, and Rexxie gave a happy sigh as she realised she'd be carried all the way back down again. Over her trainer's shoulder, she waved a final goodbye to the first Gym Leader of the region - and, on the way out of the door, stuck her tongue out at him.

In high spirits, Roark echoed the gesture right back.

* * *

 _Martyn: You're actually not too far off the mark! While it didn't happen in this chapter because I was busy writing up some snappy Gym happenings, water will be a big part of a future chapter - though I can't say precisely when. A lot of this is done on the fly. Okay, all of it is done on the fly, but I never claimed to be pro. :^) Thanks for the interest!_

 _R &R still welcome, mistakes still probably abundant, but this is a longer chapter with some more stuff going on, so I hope it was a little more worth the look. Thanks for reading!_


	3. Housewarming

_The formatting seems to be holding up after that first mishap, so I don't have much else to say about that and hopefully that'll hold._

 _I wanted to do a more themed chapter but things didn't work out and I don't want to be writing too much today just to shoehorn in some snow. So I hope a fairly non-seasonal chapter will suffice anyway._

 _Happy holidays!_

* * *

The weather seemed to have lightened as Bug emerged from the cave route just north of Jubilife City. They'd arrived in the middle of the cold season, but it seemed as if the area they were slowly moving towards was a small pocket of reprieve from the late autumn chill. Even Rexxie, so far not approving much at all of the colder weather, emerged from her cocoon of coat and wandered cheerfully along beside Stat.

This slowed them a little, as anyone seen with Pokemon - especially a peppy Totodile - was obviously a trainer, and Bug knew better than to turn down a quick battle or two.

It was after one of these battles that the two contending trainers now sat on the edge of a hill by the roadside, legs dangling down the damp embankment and Bug's sleeping bag spread beneath them to avoid getting their backsides muddy. They were sharing lunches, the girl trainer - whose name was Stella - offering a neatly-wrapped basket of berry cookies instead of half of her money as a prize for winning. Bug responded in kind with a chocolate bar.

"You really _do_ know what you're doing," Bug offered, sensing the girl seemed somewhat subdued after losing. "You were good. Stat was just - well, you know, super effective. You just need to know your types."

"Nah, it's not that," the girl replied, offering some of her cookie to her Chatot. The Pokemon seemed more interested in preening its feathers back into place after its recent loss than in food, however, and shuffled to face away from the interruption. She sighed. "Battling just isn't my thing. My heart is never really in it." She smiled distantly. "I'd really love to do contests instead. It's been a big dream of mine since I was old enough to own Pokemon, but finding the time to get to a contest hall is so hard."

Bug nodded, going quiet for a while as they munched peaceably on their food. Seeing its trainer distracted, Rexxie edged forwards and sniffed at the cookie basket, nosing her way in when no one was looking.

"Down, girl. Don't be rude."

"Naw, it's fine - they were made to share. Mom makes them with safe ingredients so she can feed them to her Leafeon." Stella pushed the basket closer, and the Totodile snapped at her happily before diving in, retreating with a large cookie and nibbling on it happily. "You too, cutie."

 _"Shiiinx!"_

Bug watched their Pokemon chow down with an amused smirk, and leaned back to look up at the sky. The clouds seemed to be clearing up, and it was turning out to be a much better day than the previous few. "Glad I finally get to see Sinnoh in the sun. It's been overcast since I got here."

Stella perked up, finishing her cookie in a rush and standing up. "Mm - you should let me show you around Floaroma! It's just up ahead. You can see the arch from here." She patted down her skirt, and Chatot fluttered up to her shoulder in a well-practiced sweep. "If you want a place that looks good in the sunshine, you won't find anywhere prettier than there."

Bug returned their Shinx, and lifted Rexxie up onto her usual perch on their bag. "If it's no trouble, I think I'll take you up on that."

When the two passed beneath the wood-carved Floarama arch, just as Stella predicted, Bug's jaw dropped.

"Is- is that-?"

"Yup," Stella replied, sweeping a hand at the landscape. "All flowers! My mom-"

"Hold on," Bug muttered, swinging their bag down off their back (Rexxie hopped off when it hit the floor, eager to go sniff the flowers) and quickly rummaging through it. From somewhere beneath their sleeping bag they pulled a small purple case, which they snapped open to reveal a pair of thick-framed squarish glasses. Once these were safely on their face, they offered an apologetic smile and adjusted them self-consciously. "Okay, sorry. Couldn't get any details."

"Wow."

Bug looked at her over the top of the frames. "Dweeb?"

"Oh my gosh, definitely."

They laughed sociably and headed into town.

It wasn't long before Bug's Totodile had disappeared in the flower fields, and Chatot tracking her overhead to occasionally swoop down and tease was the only indicator of how far she was straying. Neither trainer was worried, and it seemed like Stella was enjoying the tour just as much as Bug.

"This is the flower shop. Its full name is Pick A Peck Of Colours, but we only call it that when it wins awards." She paused. "It wins a _lot_ of awards. The women who work there are super nice. It's where my mom gets all her berries for baking into stuff." Stella lifted her basket and waggled it, then turned and pushed open the door.

It opened with the chime of a bell, and Bug followed her inside. Stella bounced over to the counter, where a lady in a green apron and her hair tied back into a messy bun was trowelling compost soil into a pot.

"Hi, Marlene!" Stella chirped, twirling around to sit up on the counter. "Any new orders?"

The woman glanced up, then made a shooing motion with the trowel. "You're going to get compost all over your dress."

"Ew!"

She chuckled as the girl hurriedly jumped back down and pressed a seed into the pot with her thumb. "No, nothing new today. I'm still working on that backlog for the Hearthome contest. They want a lot of blue, apparently, for some big publicity performance. There's a girl coming all the way from Hoenn, so it's gotta be good."

Bug glanced up from a Pecha sapling they'd been examining. "It's not Lisia, is it?"

"Oh, I think so. Why? Is she good? She had better be, considering the lengths I'm going to." Before Bug could respond, Marlene straightened up and tugged off her gardening gloves, tossing them to one side and stretching like a cat. "Ugh. Still, it's gonna be worth it. Let's see the look on those Hearthome florists' faces when I ship off blue roses!"

Stella gasped, her eyes practically twinkling. "You did it?"

"I most certainly did," Marlene answered proudly, hands on hips. "Listen, if Roselia can do it, I never saw why regular plants couldn't either. Everyone usually just feeds 'em dye, but we all know that's cheating. So it turns out, if you have the right minerals, anything's possible. Ain't that right, Roselia?"

Making Bug jump, one of the plants behind the row they were looking at suddenly shifted - and a Roselia leaned out from behind a bonsai tree, saluting its trainer from across the room. "Ro-ro!"

"Oh. Hi," Bug said, somewhat lamely. The Roselia beamed at them. "Hey, er, Marlene. Do you own this place?"

The lady paused in the middle of untying her apron, and shook her head. "No, that honour goes to Charlotte. Why?"

"Oh." Bug glanced back at the Roselia for a second. It beamed at the attention. "I met someone through Oreburgh Gate - the cave. You know."

"Oh, Jacen!" Marlene smiled warmly, fiddling with her hair-tie until her red hair fell around her shoulders in tight curls. "I can tell by the look on your face you're surprised. But I knew he'd be heading that way. He's a good boy - wants to help with the flower shop, really, but I think he has a little more adventure in him than that." She shook her head to loosen her hair, and leaned over to a mirror stood on the counter to fluff at it some more. "He's my son. Jacen Hedley. You remember that family name, 'cause we're gonna be on the map as soon as these roses get to Hearthome. ...And I dunno what Jacen wants to prove out there, but I bet it'll be just as substantial. Good kid," she repeated. "Real good kid. Look out for him, too."

Stella grinned in agreement and turned, hitching up her pink skirt to hurry over to the door. "Okay, we don't have all afternoon. I've got to show you the big field. And then you can stay at my house! Mom won't mind," she added, as Bug tried to protest on their way out. "We have trainers stay over all the time. Floaroma is the town of gratitude, after all - just say thank-you, and everything's cool."

"You two be careful out there! We've had some real weirdos around lately. And tell my son hello, if you see him again!"

"No prob, Marlene!" Once outside, Stella cupped her hands to her mouth. "Chatoooot! Where _are_ you?"

There was a trill from somewhere behind the flower shop, and the bird Pokemon came sailing around the side - with Bug's Totodile in hot pursuit.

"Oh, good. You didn't run off and get lost forever. I'm so thrilled," Bug teased, sounding deliberately sarcastic. Rexxie skidded to a halt in front of them and put her paws on her hips, scowling, and then spat a thin jet of water at Bug's face. They cringed backwards. "Augh, fine - I'm happy, I'm happy!" Bug grabbed their Pokemon from the grass and swung her up into the air, tossing her up just a couple of inches and catching her again as Rexxie giggled hoarsely and kicked her legs.

"This way, goobers," called Stella, laughing, and led the way along a path worn around the outside of the meadow.

By the time they passed through the copse of trees, the sun was beginning to set, and the sight that greeted them on the other side was a huge expanse of flowers, all lit up in gold and orange from the west. In the distance, a warehouse-like building smoked from its six chimneys, sending greyish plumes of haze across the forested backdrop.

Bug pressed a hand affectedly to their chest.

"Beautiful, huh?"

"It's... yeah. Yeah, definitely," Bug mumbled.

In their arms, Rexxie squirmed to get a better view before wiggling out of their grasp and dropping to the floor. "Toto," she agreed.

"That's the Fuego Ironworks. And over in that direction is the Windworks," Stella recited, pointing. "The Windworks provides eco power to the whole region. At least, a percentage... We're pretty proud of it."

"That's cool. Awesome. Um - not to be weird on purpose, but does anyone own...this?" Bug gestured at the expanse of flowers, and Stella laughed.

"Nah. Go nuts."

Bug grinned at her, rocking up and down on their heels a few times, and then sprang forwards down the hill. They gave a hoot, and with a bounce, Rexxie followed.

Back at the top, Stella laughed again, frisking a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear, and watched them roll over and over in the dirt until they flopped onto their backs with a final shared holler.

* * *

"So, you better visit again. Floarama is pretty, but it's _boring._ The tourists are the only good part. _Make sure_ you visit again."

"I will," Bug agreed. "But get yourself out there, and maybe I won't have to."

Stella chuckled, clapping her hands together and giving them a gentle shove on the shoulder. "Alright - okay. I'll _make_ time, from now on. See you around, goober."

Bug nodded, nibbling on a cookie Stella's overly-friendly mother had given them, and waved a final goodbye. By their side, Stat the Shinx gambolled happily along, for once perky and awake on a sugar rush brought on by the berry-filled cookies.

Their next destination was the Windworks, more out of a respect for the clean energy than out of what should have been a trainer's interest in habitat. But, approaching the entrance, a purplish balloon-like shape drifted lazily against the Windworks sign, and against their better judgement their typical trainer's Spidey-sense activated and all interest in the Windworks was lost.

"Well, hello, dude," the trainer cooed lightly. The Pokemon floating against the sign seemed to look up at them, but it was sort of hard to tell. "What's your deal, eh? Stuck?"

"Floo."

"You sound way too happy to be stuck. Are you visiting?"

"Floo."

"Uh-huh." Bug gingerly held out the half-eaten cookie, wiggling it a little to get the Pokemon's attention. "You like Oran berries? The blue ones?"

"Floo."

Without much decorum, the Pokemon swung sideways, now at an awkward diagonal with its soft cloud-like head puff against the Windworks sign, and closed a tiny mouth around the edge of the cookie.

"Wow." Bug stared it down for a long moment, in which neither party moved.

By their side, Stat stared blankly up at the interloper, and then quietly sat down.

Bug experimentally moved the cookie down a little. The Pokemon didn't let go, but didn't complain either. Bug moved the cookie upwards. The Pokemon stared at them.

"Right. Well, we have more. You can, er. You can stay. If you like. Or you can come with us."

"Floo."

Bug waggled the cookie again, and with a continued lack of response from the Pokemon, they simply let go. "Okay. Well, see you around."

As they turned to leave, the electric Pokemon at their feet looked up with an upset expression.

"Shinx shi-shii?"

Bug shrugged exaggeratedly. "Look, it seemed pretty content. I can get that. If you think fighting it into a proper answer was better, you go back and catch it yourself."

"Shii." Somewhat concerned, Stat kept trotting, aiming its gaze ahead. "Shinx Shinx."

"Yeah. Well, whatever."

Bug kept their eyes forward. Perhaps they'd have looked back, but something too akin to embarrassment prevented that. And, despite all logic, Bug couldn't place it enough to dismiss that feeling.

It was only at the entrance to Eterna Forest that they wished they'd turned around, or at least slowed down.

"This place is a lot darker than Viridian. Or Ilex."

"Shii."

"Yeah." Bug span and knelt down, offering a scritch behind the ears to the Pokemon that was keeping them company, and smiled. "You're right. Everywhere's different, keep going. Et cetera."

Nonplussed, because that wasn't what it had been trying to say at all, the Shinx nuzzled Bug's hand anyway. "Shinx."

"Yeah."

Oblivious (maybe a little on purpose), Bug straightened up, took a deep breath, and stepped into the shade of the trees. "Should've done this tomorrow, really."

As it turned out, Eterna Forest was much bigger than Bug had anticipated. Setting off later or earlier wouldn't really have saved them much of a hassle, at least not with the time it took Bug to get anywhere substantial. Within a couple of midday hours, Bug found themselves somehow off the track, surrounded by curious Wurmple and irritated - but thankfully harmless - Silcoon. A little later than that, and the sun was beginning to set.

"I feel like... no, I won't say it," Bug groaned, finally slumping against a boulder that stuck out of the undergrowth. "Every time some movie shows someone lost, they always say they've been walking for hours. But, listen." They slid down the rock and grabbed Stat's face, smushing her cheeks together. "We're not lost. That's important."

"Shinx?"

"Exactly," Bug replied soulfully, having no idea what had just been said. "Precisely. Yes. We're getting out of here. That much is crystal clear."

"Shii..."

"Absolutely, I wholeheartedly agree, and furthermore..."

"Shinx."

"Took the words right out of my mouth. You are one _articulate_ little dude. You know?"

Stat gave its new trainer a look of passive suffering, and turned around, tail sticking straight up in the air like a lightning rod. "Shi-shinx!"

"Yeah. Okay. Lead the way. You obviously have a better grasp of this place than I do." They looked up, adjusting their glasses, and sighed. "Looks like more rain. Let's see if you can lead us to some shelter.

A few minutes passed, the hopeful dark-haired trainer following their Pokemon with a lot of trudging and sighing, and they barely noticed the Chateau until it bruised their nose.

Bug winced and stepped back, rubbing their nose with a disdainful expression, and tilted their head back to get a better look at the building that had just appeared in their path.

"Ah." They stared for a while, Shinx rubbing thoughtfully up against their legs, and took a deep breath. "Yeah. You really nailed it. I can tell this is a real... a real... Super safe." Another deep breath. "Thanks, Stat. Really. It's certainly a roof."

"Shinx," Stat said reproachfully. Clearly Stat considered it to be quite a step up from wandering aimlessly in the woods.

Bug pressed their palm to the front door, and it swung inwards with a long creak and a hiss of gravel and debris against tiles.

Silence greeted them, and Bug gingerly stepped sideways through the door, closing it behind them after a moment's hesitation. Stat padded uncertainly out into the open, her fur beginning to stand on end from more than just her static electricity.

"Hey," Bug murmured, waggling their hand to get the Pokemon's attention, "can you do that thing you did the other day with your tail?"

"Shii-Shinx." Stat stuck out her tail, craning her neck to look at it, and seemed to focus hard. There was a faint crackle of static, and the star on the end of her tail began to glow, casting a faint pool of pale light out around her.

"Great. Keep it up - my night vision isn't so great." Bug had chosen to keep their glasses on since Floarama, deciding it was better to look a little dweeby and get a good look at Sinnoh than to suffer short-sightedness. Still, they weren't helping much here. "It's so dusty. At least we know we're not trespassing on anyone's private property. Looks like no one's lived here in years."

Stat raised her nose and sniffed, her ears twitching up. "Shi?"

"Stat, where are you going?" Bug hissed as she began to wander away, and hurried after her. Their combined footsteps seemed almost to echo on the dusty entrance hall tiles, and Bug heard Stat pause just through a dingy doorway. "What are you looking for?"

"Shinx," she replied matter-of-factly, and trotted forwards again once her hapless trainer had caught up.

The faint pattering of rain started up, sounding distant, and Bug was surprised when they passed through a darkened dining hall and into a kitchen area. This place looked a little cleaner than the rest of the house, but the glow of the rainy sunset through the window cast the whole room in an eerie red light.

Undeterred, the Shinx made a beeline for a set of boxes in the corner, following her nose, and put her paws up on the edge of one that lay open.

Leaning down, Bug smiled faintly. "Oh. Wow, they really stocked up on honey." They reached into the box and pulled out a jar, fixing their hand around the lid. Some of the sugar content had crusted up around the edges, making it stiff to open, but when the lid finally popped, the sweet scent of Floaroma honey wafted out and Bug found themselves dipping a finger in. "Mm. That's actually really good. Good thing this stuff doesn't spoil so easily. Try some?"

Stat lifted her head to sniff daintily at Bug's finger, then lapped at it. A second later, there was a shuffle from behind them and Stat leapt nearly a foot in the air, fur sticking out in all directions as she whirled around to bristle at whatever was there.

Bug turned just in time to observe a candy wrapper flutter to the floor from the edge of a table, but nothing else seemed to be there. They narrowed their eyes.

"Can't you light this place up a bit more?" the trainer whispered.

Stat ignored the obvious question, still stiff and wary. Just to be safe, Bug screwed the lid back on the honey jar and slid it back into its place among the rest.

"Well, if we both get horribly murdered, I blame you." The humour did little for either of them.

They made their way back through the dining room, Bug tracing a finger along the dust that layered the table, and paused- because, despite expectation, there was none. Bug gave a thoughtful hum, and followed Stat out into the hall.

"I'm gonna play it safe. Probably should have done this first, just to be polite." They pulled their coat off by its sleeves, and crossed the hall to hang that and their bag on an old wooden coat rack. They cast a suspicious look up and around at the gloomy balconies and cobwebbed chandelier, sticking their hands in the pockets of their capris and closing their hand around an empty, minimised Heal Ball as if for good luck. "Okay, we'll be polite," Bug remarked. "Don't touch anything, Stat."

There was a pause. Only the drumming of rain answered back.

"Oh, for goodness' sake." Bug headed for a staircase and traced the handrail on the way up. "Always trust a new Pokemon to wander off. Should've told her the rules."

A side room by the left of the balcony was their first stop. If they worked methodically, they had to run into the Shinx sooner or later. That at least made sense.

What didn't make sense was the sweet smell of chocolate that greeted them as soon as they stepped through the open door.

The room seemed to be a storage area, with a couple of half-empty bookshelves in one corner and a whole lot of old boxes lined up against the back wall. There was a window, but the curtains were closed and only a thin streak of red twilight lit the room. Lying half in this light, on top of a closed box, was a cake.

Bug eyed the square slice of gateaux warily, and decided against touching it or the plate it sat on. They did run a finger over the little dark purple box that had contained it, however. It looked like it had been tied with a red ribbon, which lay draped over the storage boxes nearby. This, as well as the rest of the cake and a silver fork, stood out as untouched by the thin layers of dust that covered the rest of the room.

"Hmm."

They bid a hasty retreat from the room, deciding that this mystery was best left alone for the time being, and the sounds of shuffling led them along the balcony and through another door. This corridor was longer and thinner, dotted with wilting potted plants, and the shimmer of pale light from a door that stood ajar reassured Bug that their Pokemon had not, in fact, simply disappeared into thin air.

As they pushed the door slowly open, they realised the light wasn't just coming from Stat's tail. She sat alone in front of a flickering television, her tail swatting from side to side rhythmically. Stat glanced over her shoulder, giving her trainer an acknowledging huff, and went back to staring at the screen.

"Did you turn that on?" Stat shook her head. "Didn't think so." Bug closed the gap between them and squinted at the television screen, pushing their glasses further up their nose, and stuck their hands on their hips.

As Bug opened their mouth to say something, the screen suddenly went dark. A second later, it lit up with a glitchy image of an orange face with blue and white eyes and a sharp-toothed grin, and a loud burst of static to accompany it.

Bug gave a horrified gasp, flinching away.

The Shinx yelped, scared into jumping up with her legs stretched stiffly out, and without warning, her body lit up in white. The face on the screen stopped grinning, looking curious instead, and both the human and the strange television entity watched in surprise as Stat's body shifted and grew.

A glitter of spent energy sprinkled away into nothing as Stat finished changing, eyes still wide and fur still sticking straight out like she'd been (ironically) electrocuted. But now her fur was longer, and curled upwards around the sides of her face. The yellow bands around her front paws had doubled, and she now stood at twice her previous height.

"Lux," she managed, still too shocked to move, and abruptly Bug relaxed, an incredulous grin on their face.

"Oh, wow. That's a _first."_ They laughed breathlessly, stooping to give Stat a reassuring stroke and wincing momentarily at the click of static on their fingers. "I wonder if the professors would be interested to know Pokemon can be spooked into evolving."

"Luxio," Stat grumbled reproachfully, sticking her tail back down in shame and turning to butt her head into her trainer's arms.

On the television screen, the face pushed outwards, pulling the colour with it, and a small orange Pokemon popped out into the air with a grin. "Ro-ro, Rotom!"

"Yeah. Real cute," Bug answered, half meaning it, and offered a friendly smile. "Scared the pants off us, there."

The Pokemon just laughed.

Minutes later, they were exploring together, Rotom occasionally whirling around a room to show off its favourite toys - possessing an ancient-looking tin alarm clock, hiding beneath dusty bedsheets, and rattling the paintings on the walls. Bug played along, more interested in the remnants left behind by the house's old owners than in Rotom's antics but managing to keep the little Pokemon occupied regardless. Stat seemed to have recovered from her scare and was enjoying her new height and weight, jumping up onto one of the beds and bouncing up and down a bit before the dust made her sneeze.

An ornament caught Bug's eye in one of the bedrooms - a strange, tapered hexagonal shape in a dull, translucent purple. It was leaning up against an old chest, with scuff marks on the floor leading to it that showed it had been placed there long after the house had fallen into disrepair. Upon trying to shift it, Bug confirmed their suspicion - the item was fairly heavy. There was no way Rotom could have moved it.

Bug was no fool, and it didn't take long for them to discover the other residents of the old chateau. Investigating a suspiciously purple-tinted portrait, they soon managed to catch out the pair of red eyes that followed them when they weren't looking, and whirled around with a loud "Ah- _ha!"_

The Gengar gave up its pretense and shimmered out of the wall, laughing raucously, and a host of Haunter and Gastly descended from all directions to join in its mirth. Bug just grinned back at them all, taking a sweeping and exaggerated bow as the Gengar and Haunter applauded their discovery.

"Nice, nice. You got me!" Bug grinned, clapping right back at them all. "Now, do any of you have any idea what that thing is?"

A couple of Haunter drifted down to examine the purple object, while their apparent leader gave a dismissive shrug. Gengar led Bug to the window and pushed back the curtain, pointing down behind the house. "Ge-geh," it explained. There was a divot, Bug noticed, in the mossy ground out there.

"It fell?"

"Gen!"

They blinked down at the hole in the ground for another moment, then pulled away from the window and shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, it's very pretty. I won't take it from you, obviously. I was just wondering."

It was a while before the ghosts grew tired of jumping out and spooking the trainer and their Pokemon, but the two did their best to be good sports. And eventually, as bizarre as it should have been, Bug felt like they could relax. Ghost Pokemon could be terrifying, if they wanted to, but the chateau ghosts seemed to be good-natured. This was quickly proven when the Gengar bid Bug to wait in the dining hall, disappearing through a wall and returning a minute later with the plate of cake in one hand and the box in the other.

Though it took some careful cutting to ensure there was enough to go around, it wasn't long before the dining hall was alive with the sound of Pokemon socialising, and after some wary introduction, even Rexxie had been let out of her Pokeball to join in.

After pointing out the rainy weather outside and their lack of night vision, Bug easily convinced the ghosts to let them stay until morning. It was then, after sharing out a breakfast of the last of Stella's cookies and a final Rage Candy Bar from the bottom of their bag, that they shouldered their gear and said a grateful farewell.

Giving one last wave to a Gastly that had followed them a little way out to ensure they found the path, Bug grinned down at Stat. "Pity they didn't want to come with. It'd be cool to end up with something that matched my outfit." Bug patted their chest, where the Gengar face logo was beneath their coat, and sighed. "They were nice, though. I didn't want to start any fights. You know?"

Stat glanced up, and Bug swore they detected an accusing glint to the Pokemon's stare.

Sheepish, they cleared their throat. "At least they gave us directions. We'll get to Eterna in no time."

* * *

 _Thanks for reading! I laced this chapter with a couple of threads of plot but it'll be a while before anything comes of it, so this is another of those "sit back and enjoy the ride" messages, I guess?_

 _R &R welcome! Thanks so much to BlazinVoid for the encouragement! I'm glad a few people seem to be enjoying it so far. :^D_


	4. Art: The Struggle

"Hey. Um, there shouldn't be anything really wrong with them, but if you could give them a checkup...? We had a bit of a mishap in the forest and my Shinx evolved at a weird time."

The Centre nurse smiled brightly and nodded, sidestepping the counter and giving a beckoning wave of her hand. "This way, please. Will you be needing a room for the night?"

Bug considered this for a moment, then hummed. "Depends. Is there a cheap hotel in town?"

"Well, beds at the Pokemon Centre are free," Joy reminded them gently, "but there's a nice little place on the corner if you'd rather have a room to yourself. It'll be expensive if you're on a trainer's budget, though."

They'd reached the back room of the Pokemon Centre, a rest area with clean white walls and a red stripe around the edges. It was filled with hospital beds, and most seemed to be empty - it wasn't a busy season for tourists or trainers, apparently, and only a Meditite and a Shellos occupied two beds. In the corner, a large tank of water housed a Goldeen, swimming quite contentedly in circles with a specialised waterproof patch on its scales.

Bug sighed. "No, you're right. I started from scratch again and all my money's with my parents. I'll stay here, if that's okay."

"Of course. I'll write you in right after, if you like." She patted an empty bed. "Put your Pokemon up here, please."

The checkup went smoothly - despite Bug's concerns, it had been a clean evolution, and the nurse couldn't find a thing wrong with Stat. Rexxie, too, checked out healthy, and when they left the Pokemon Centre, both Pokemon were out and trotting along beside them.

Despite its size, it seemed as though Eterna City was mostly residential, and there were only three real points of interest for trainers. The first was a new-looking, recently-closed building with police tape barring the doors - Bug was quick to avoid it, mostly out of a firm memory of abandoned building mishaps in other regions.

The second was a Gym by the south end of town, decorated on the outside with a sizeable garden and creeping plants growing over the windows (it wasn't hard to guess the Leader's specialty). Bug peeked in through the door briefly, but a referee waved them off due to a challenge in progress.

The third, which drew Bug's attention the most, was a huge statue on a raised plinth. It seemed to depict a Pokemon of some sort - it seemed familiar, somehow, but the details didn't fit and so it was hard to place. It looked like a dragon type, at least, and Bug had spent quite some time admiring it before they realised they were being watched.

Bug lifted their hand from the beast's great stone foot and glanced up. A few metres away, a young man in a fluffy white scarf was sitting on the edge of the statue's plinth, his legs crossed over and his ice-blue eyes fixed intently on Bug - or, they realised, on Rexxie. The Totodile had taken up her usual vantage point on the top of Bug's bag, and was now staring right back at the stranger with a curious expression.

"Can I help?"

"Oh," he said, raising his hands defensively. "N-no. Sorry. I'm just w-watching. I didn't mean to s-s-s...!" He cleared his throat abruptly. "...Um. So, you're a trainer, right?"

Bug nodded, ignoring the stutter. "This is Rexxie. If you're looking for a battle, you should know I'm a bit more experienced than you'd think."

"Actually I w-was just going to ask i-if that Pokemon is from Johto, but since you b-brought it up..." He grinned, running a hand through his mousey hair and hopping down from his perch. "You sound c-confident."

"I am. Sort of," Bug added awkwardly, not wanting to seem too prideful, and peered over at the one Pokeball clipped to the boy's belt. "Um. You probably want to battle my Totodile, right?"

Oddly, he just laughed. "Uh, if you w-want. But you can use more than one, i-if you have more. You m-may have to."

Bug frowned, a smirk appearing on their face. "I see. Well, let's move somewhere else, then. It'd be a shame to damage the statue."

"I'll t-tell you about it, if you win," he wagered.

"Sounds good. If you win, I tell you how I got my Totodile."

The pair headed for the town gate, picking out an empty patch of sparse grass between two ponds, and Rexxie hopped forwards with an eager snap of her jaws.

Bug's challenger unclipped the Pokeball from his belt, and when he tossed it into the air, the white light that spilled out formed an unexpected shape.

"Oh, that's not fair," Bug murmured, shoulders drooping.

"Meet Porygon-Z. I d-don't know if you ever saw one before, but i-it's pretty strong. If you w-want to forefeit straight away..." he prompted.

"You challenged me with a fully-evolved Pokemon," Bug complained, but didn't move. "Rexxie, better be quick. If you get hit, it's probably game over."

"Toto!"

"Water gun!"

"Wha-! Hey, no fair, we weren't r-ready!"

Bug grinned as the attack hit its mark, their Totodile bouncing from foot to foot with a triumphant chatter. "You're the cheater, Mr. Third-Evo! Get 'em with a Bite, Rexxie!"

"Dodge and use Hyper Beam!"

The strange Pokemon twitched out of the way of its opponent's attack, turning to track her movements, and white-hot energy gathered by its beak.

Feeling a surge of panic, Bug swung their arm at one of the ponds. "In the water!"

Flailing for a second, Rexxie used her smaller size to her advantage and changed direction quickly, diving forwards and disappearing under the water as the beam shot harmlessly overhead and bored a short hole in the side of the town's surrounding rock wall.

"Water Gun!"

A jet of water shot out of the pond, hitting Porygon-Z square in the face for a second time, but after taking the hit with a flinch, the Pokemon and its trainer seemed unfazed.

"Conversion-2!"

Its body rippled with multicoloured pixels, and its head twitched to the side as the effect settled. A second, unprompted Water Gun from Rexxie as she leapt out of the water simply splashed harmlessly off the Porygon-Z's body as if it was wearing an invisible shield.

"What did that do?"

"It's D-Dragon-type now. Water won't w-work so great," the trainer explained with a grin. "Signal Beam!"

With a glitchy cry, Porygon-Z shot a colourful beam at the Totodile, and as Rexxie struggled to dodge with no cover, the battle looked fairly one-sided.

"Try and get close for a Bite-!"

"Finish it off with Hyper Beam!"

In the middle of trying to follow her trainer's order, Rexxie found herself face-to-face with the Porygon-Z as it whipped around with a glow of energy at the ready. The attack hit her head-on.

"No!" Bug called helplessly as the smaller Pokemon was shot clean through the air and landed with a splash in the water.

"S-sorry," the trainer grinned, looking a little sheepish. "We g-got carried away... I shouldn't have t-teased you l-like that-"

A crash of water made both trainers' heads snap around. The blur of blue and yellow hit Porygon-Z like a rocket, droplets of water seeming to hang in the air as the Pokemon landed, turned, and slapped her opponent away with her tail.

"Croco!"

The rush was back, and Bug practically leaped for joy. "Oh, _belter!"_ they yelled hoarsely, and punched the air. "Show 'em, Rexxie!"

 _"Croconaw!"_

She leapt at Porygon-Z, its trainer momentarily too speechless to give an order, and as her jaws closed around its tail, her teeth glittered with blueish particles of ice.

"Shake it off! Use Lock-On!"

"Don't let it get a fix on you!"

The two trainers had raised their voices to adrenaline-fuelled shouts, and the exchange of commands only seemed to make both Pokemon fight with more fervour.

Finally, however, Porygon-Z's more advanced form still seemed to tip the advantage in its favour. With a static-laced screech, it traced the newly-evolved Croconaw with Lock-On, and a final Hyper Beam blasted Rexxie back and out of the town's east exit. She hit the floor and skidded on her back, her new back spikes leaving harsh ruts in the dirt, and then she went still.

Bug ran past their opponent at full tilt, slipping in the mud beside Rexxie and gathering her up into a careful hug as they hit the ground. "Oh, you crazy alligator. What a good job!"

"C-croh..." Rexxie replied weakly, managing a toothy grin.

"Is she okay?" the other trainer called, stroking his own Pokemon's head reassuringly.

"Fine," Bug replied, fumbling for the right Pokeball. "We'll talk later. You did _so_ good," they cooed, touching the ball to Rexxie's body and returning her in a flicker of red light. They stood up, twisting to give a disdainful look at the mud stains now covering their white shorts, and sighed. "I won't make Stat fight you. I know when I'm beat."

The young man closed the distance between them, chuckling nervously at the other trainer's mishap, and offered his hand. "Sh-shake on it. Your Pokemon is really d-determined."

"Yeah. Comes with the species, I think. You know, you can't shake them off if they bite you - their jaws can lock right up. Took me ages to train her out of that. Figured it was dangerous." They smiled, shaking hands, and both trainers noted the other was trembling. _Proof of a good battle,_ Bug reassured themselves. "People call me Bug, by the way. Thought I should, er..."

"Oh! S-sorry. My name's Lucien Bailey. Uh - L-Luke, if you want."

"Nice to meet you. Pokemon Centre?" Bug tilted their head in the direction of the red roof.

"Yeah, uh. Good idea."

* * *

Lucien, as it turned out, was in town to study the exact statue Bug had been interested in. He was an artist, eager to show off his sketches, and they sat in a cafe leafing through his sketchbook with hot drinks to warm them after fighting out in the cold - Bug's treat as loser. Luke had opted to kill their wager anyway, and they sat comfortably discussing lore with his sketchbook lying open on the table between them.

Lucien gestured to the illustration Bug was looking at and leaned back to sip the cinnamon-dusted cream off his drink. "So, that's Dialga and Palkia, like the statue - I guess th-they wanted a combo to represent both. Sinnoh is r-really rich in lore, s-so after getting some g-good sketches of Latias-"

"You met Latias?" Bug's eyebrows raised in surprise, but not doubt. Sightings of rare Pokemon were getting more common lately, with the rise of the regulated League challenges that made trainers more focused on growing stronger. Apparently scarcely-rumoured Pokemon were no longer quite so hard to find, and with stronger partners, people were less afraid of venturing into unknown territory. Clashes were inevitable.

Lucien blinked, unsure of how to respond. "Uh... And Latios, yeah. Sorry, I guess that w-was a shock."

"Mm. I guess." Bug turned the page carefully, examining a second dragon-like Pokemon on the other page. "I've seen it, but I couldn't draw it. It was flying overhead, leaving little jet-trails from its wings... I didn't stay long, in Hoenn." Their voice went a little quieter, and Lucien tried to read their face.

"Did something happen?"

"I was supposed to be on the Gym circuit, but. I chickened out." They smirked self-depreciatively and flipped through the sketchbook to find the Latias picture, settling on it with a studious look. "I'm not so good with the ocean. Don't like the smell. Or stuff touching my feet."

"Oh," Lucien replied blankly, and then it clicked. "Ohh. The sea routes. I guess you can't legally just fly to the next Gym if you're starting from square one."

Bug shrugged. "I made it to Mossdeep. But my most trusted Water-types were... you know, not big enough to ride. I ended up hanging onto a Surfing Furret. He was a good Pokemon - real loyal, I guess - but Furrets don't dive. There was no way we'd make it to Sootopolis. The entrance is... you know." Bug mimed diving and surfacing with a wooden coffee stirrer, and then stuck the end in their mouth and chewed idly. "Sort of an embarrassing reason to quit the Gym challenge. I was kind of looking forward to the Elite Four until I got to Mossdeep and heard what was ahead."

Lucien tried to look sympathetic, but there wasn't much he could say. It _was_ embarrassing, for a trainer who had already conquered two regions. "I, uh... hear they've invented better d-diving suits now," he hazarded, but Bug just shook their head. Better gear wouldn't help a phobia. He sighed. "Well, that's d-disheartening. B-but how are you liking Sinnoh? It's nicer, right?"

Bug brightened, eyes flicking up from the sketch close-up of Latias' smiling face, and gave him a thumbs-up over the top of their coffee. "Oh, it's _beautiful._ Honestly I would have just made it a long holiday, but you need badges to get anywhere rugged without an escort, and I'm aiming for Mount Coronet. I hear the view is amazing from the top."

He smiled. "Me, too! I-I'm hoping to get a good sketch of Spear Pillar while I'm there. I have a friend who wants to recommend me to an i-illustration position, but without a good portfolio I've g-got no chance."

"Maybe we'll see each other at the top."

"Maybe you can escort me if you're good enough," Lucien pointed out, sipping his coffee.

Bug laughed. "Yeah, maybe. Me and my Croconaw will make sure nothing happens to your weak baby Porygon. Oh, _wait."_

"Hey," Lucien smirked, leaning forwards and pulling his sketchbook back, "we may be strong, but we don't d-do Gyms. It's a little backwards, a-admittedly, but I hear you're only allowed to the top w-with certain badges. Y-you get those, and we're both golden. Besides," he added, flipping to a page with a drawing of three small, imp-like Pokemon and pushing it back across the table, "I'm looking for information on these, so I'm headed to Celestic Town next. We can s-see how you feel when we g-get there, if you want t-to travel t-together..."

Bug eyed the artist's rendition of the three Pokemon dubiously for a while, then leaned back and folded their arms. "Yeah. Okay. I mean, if we're both going there..."

"G-great! H-here, take my number..."

When Bug pulled out their archaic PokéGear, it was all Lucien could do to stifle the snicker that burst forth. "Oh, boy. That is..."

"I know," Bug said plainly, rolling their eyes.

"It's so _old!"_

"I know."

"Wh-who gave you that? Your g-grandmother?"

"Luke. I am going to _bury_ you in Eterna Forest and _no one_ will find you. Now shut up while I call my parents, nerd."

* * *

After pulling off an unexpectedly easy victory against Gardenia and spending the night on a hostel-like Pokemon Centre bed, Bug was eager to get going the next morning. It was only when they were scrambling over rocks in the dim light of Stat's glowing tail that the stiffness was shaken off completely.

"How much further?"

"I don't know," Lucien answered, pausing to step carefully over a grumpy-looking Geodude and praying it wasn't about to punch him on the way past. "I've never come through here before. I'm just as new to Sinnoh as you are."

"You've got the guidebook," Bug huffed, climbing over the top of a rock pile and sliding down the scree on the other side.

"It's for tourists, not t-trainers. It doesn't map the caves. I thought I'd be t-taking the easy route."

Bug stopped at the bottom to stare up at him with an accusing look. "There's an easy route?"

"Oh, c-come on. I w-wanted to see the cave. You're a t-trainer, aren't you?"

Bug made an exasperated noise and almost trod on Stat. She skittered out of the way with an alarmed yowl.

Despite the teasing, neither party was actually angry. They'd agreed to travel together to Celestic Town, chatting on the way about Sinnoh's lore and exchanging anecdotes. Bug had spoken about the small piece of land they'd rented just on the outskirts between Kanto and Johto, which housed all their Pokemon too big or rowdy or territorial to keep at their parents' house, and had agreed to take Lucien there for a visit someday. This, they explained, was paid for with their winner's money from their successful Gym circuits in Kanto and Johto.

Sinnoh was their first re-start after that mildly depressing failure in Hoenn and a two-year break that came after, and Bug had high spirits.

"So, I think I'm going to try for Champion. It'd make me feel better, I think."

"You should do it. With your skill, I b-bet it's well within your reach."

Bug paused. "Well, yeah, you know. Unless there's an ocean involved."

"You don't hate the seaside, though, do you?" Bug opted not to answer. Lucien squeezed past a boulder and stumbled out of the other side, stopping to catch his breath. "There's a p-port city called Canalave I think you'd like, anyway. There's no b-beach, so not many people go in the water unless they're g-getting on a boat. Uh - there's a big specialty library..."

"Specialty in what?"

Lucien blinked. "Lore. Old stories. There are some b-books in there passed down through f-families... You need to w-wear special gloves for the older ones."

"Okay, I'll bite. Why are you interested in dusty old tomes?" Bug held out their hand for Luke to take, and hauled him up a rocky incline.

He dusted himself down at the top. "Well, the whole place is like... a records hall for lore. It's f-famous for all its books about legendary Pokemon. Some of them h-haven't been seen in hundreds of years, s-so it's kind of debatable whether all of them exist or n-not." Lucien smiled to himself. "I'm g-going to draw all of them. My portfolio is s-supposed about history, but I'm putting a s-spin on it and going with legends. I think I'll s-stand out more that way."

Bug hummed, their interest piqued. "Well, if there's a Gym, I'll be going to Canalave anyway," they remarked casually, secretly more interested in the library than they let on. Their strong disdain for the ocean still curbed their enthusiasm quite a bit, at least outwardly. "If we're still together by then, we can go to the library together. Maybe there's something on Palkia."

"You like that one?"

"I just think it's cool-looking. I'm never gonna _see_ it, so a book's the next best thing, right?"

For a while neither spoke, scrambling over rocks and between boulders and trying to keep their footing. Stat led the way, picking her way easily over the uneven ground and lighting the floor behind her for the two humans.

Soon enough, a fresh breeze and the faint sounds of chirping birds led them to the exit. When they stood on the other side of the mountain, blinking in the light, both took a moment to stretch their limbs and take in the sun.

"Celestic is just past here," Lucien said, pointing along the valley pass. Smoke rising in the distance seemed to lend verity to his words, and he quickly set off with Bug and Stat hurrying to keep up. "It should be right past the b-bottleneck in the mountains there..."

They kept up some light conversation now that they were out in the open, but their voices died off as there was an ominous rumble from somewhere ahead. The two trainers glanced at each other and picked up the pace.

When they reached Celestic at last, they weren't greeted with the idyll they'd been expecting.

A Garchomp and a Houndoom were duking it out in a pit in the centre of town, the ruins of what looked like a shrine trampled underfoot. The rumble started up again as a trainer with long, blonde hair and black clothing ordered another Earthquake attack, and a barked command from her blue-haired adversary just barely saved the dog Pokemon from an early defeat.

The town's residents stood in groups at a safe distance around the edges of the town, apparently hoping their homes wouldn't suffer the same fate as the shrine. Taking a leaf from their book, Bug and Lucien skirted around the battle and went to join an elderly couple watching from the sidelines.

"You picked a bad time to visit, young ones. I'd get out of dodge for the time being, if I were you. Cynthia can handle this."

"What's going on?" Lucien winced as the Garchomp gave an ear-shattering roar and charged. The resounding thump of Houndoom hitting the edge of the pit echoed through the town. "Is that really the Champion down there? Who's with her?"

"We don't know. He was up to something shady, though. Seems like Cynthia chased him here from somewhere else." The old lady shifted slightly, and her husband took her arm as the floor shook again. "He was riding a Honchkrow when she shot him down, but then her Togekiss took a nasty poisoning. I think they're down to their last." The old lady sighed, eyeing the broken shrine. "I was hoping they wouldn't cause too much damage, but that's a lot of history lost right there."

"It's been damaged before," the man said gently, patting his wife's arm reassuringly. "Don't despair over spilled milk. We can rebuild whatever they break, just like our grandparents. It's a tradition by now, don't you think?"

"I just wish I knew why they were fighting. Cynthia is normally so _careful..._ It looks like she's going all out."

"Does she need help?" Lucien asked. At his side, Bug cringed back just a bit.

The old lady smiled knowingly. "Oh, no. I'm confident in her. She didn't become Champion for nothing-"

With a resounding crash, the Houndoom was thrown violently upwards, and landed in a heap by the edge of town. It tried to stand as several of the Celestic residents scattered away from it, but it looked like it was two steps from crumpling to the ground as it limped its way back down the slope to join its master.

Cynthia was speaking to the stern-looking man, and Bug and Lucien crept forwards to eavesdrop.

"...So I suggest you stop being so foolish. If you think you could handle that sort of power, you've lost your mind."

The man said nothing.

Cynthia continued. "Do you have anything to say for yourself? Our battle destroyed an important part of this town, Cyrus. You should be ashamed."

"Cyrus" muttered something, apparently unfazed by Cynthia's angry scolding.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of _course_ it matters. And you'll answer for it just as soon as I'm through with you." A pause while he said something else, his voice too low to be heard, and Cynthia bristled. "I don't want to hear it. The police have your Eterna building under control, Cyrus. Most of your team was still inside. They've been arrested. It's over."

Abruptly, Cyrus smirked. He snapped his fingers, and his Houndoom opened its mouth in a canine grin. All at once, flickers of dark fire spat into being around the Pokemon and its master, and Cynthia stepped back with her arm raised. A flash of indigo fire swirled up around them, and rushed outwards. Somebody screamed, but the fire seemed to be purely aesthetic - and Cyrus and his Pokemon were gone.

Cynthia recovered quickly, and narrowed her eyes at the slightly-singed place her opponent had been standing. She turned to address the town, her Garchomp stomping over to wait for new orders.

"I apologise for the damage to the shrine. I underestimated my opponent, and it cost us an important part of our home. Battling on familiar territory gave me the edge, but it came at a cost. I'll stay and help with repairs myself. Everyone should stay on their guard, though I believe Cyrus is long gone now." She paused, brushing her long hair back over her shoulder. "Sorry, everyone."

Some of the Celestic people hurried forwards now that the danger was gone, sliding down the bank and hurrying down the steps to surround Cynthia with questions and reassurance, and Bug and Lucien exchanged curious looks.

"Th-that was i-incredible," said Lucien, running a hand through his hair. "It's been a l-long time since I s-saw a battle that d-d-destructive. You could f-feel the earth sh-shake..."

"But what were they fighting over?" Bug shook their head. "I'm looking forward to challenging _her_ when this is over, though. Whatever this is."

Lucien bit his lip. "I... I feel like I've h-heard of him. The police were looking for someone th-that sounded just like him, but it's b-been a month since then... I th-thought they caught him already."

Bug snorted. "Apparently not. Pity about that shrine. I was looking forward to seeing that, but... kind of missed the boat, I suppose." They gestured to the wreckage in the centre of town. "Maybe we can take a look at those ruins, though. If they haven't caved in."

"Oh!" Lucien snapped his fingers, lightening up. "That's r-right. I wanted to see that, too. Apparently there are s-some pictures in there of th-the Lake Trio. L-let's go so we can m-make good time. I d-don't want to s-stay here overnight after that."

"Hear, hear. You know, if being Champion means you're responsible for catching runaway criminals, I'm having second thoughts about this League thing."

"D-don't be silly. If you're Champion, that means you're the strongest in the region. You c-can handle anything..."

"You saw how close that was."

"N-nah. She w-was always gonna w-win."

Giving the Champion and townspeople a wide berth, Bug and Lucien headed through the arched entrance and into the ruins, still feeling uneasy.

* * *

"Is this going to take long? I thought you said you wanted to be out of here before nightfall."

"Just a s-second." Lucien was standing by the back wall of the ruins, his sketchbook gripped tightly in one arm and a pencil quickly skittering back and forth over the paper as he glanced up and down from his drawing to the wall and back again. He'd tied his pale brown hair back in a short ponytail to keep it out of his eyes, and he'd been drawing for what felt like an age.

"You've gone through, like, eight pages. Can't you take a photo and use that?"

"I prefer working from real life, don't you?"

"I draw cartoons," Bug muttered reproachfully, "not bas relief."

"Well... Hold onto y-your hat, because I thiiiink..." He paused, comparing his sketch to the art on the wall, and turned his pencil upside-down to erase a small detail and re-draw it. "...I _think_ I'm done."

"Show me when we're outside. I've been staring at this Palkia statue so long my eyeballs are turning into pearls. Let's go."

On the way out of town (which was thankfully far less animated than when they'd arrived), Bug leafed through his newest sketches, humming occasionally at what Lucien was saying.

"So, the one with the closed eyes is Uxie... It's s-supposed to represent knowledge, and there are certain bits of lore that say it can see the f-future."

"Cool." Bug flipped the page. "What about the one with the long... What even are those?"

"I don't know. S-stabilisers?" He laughed. "That's Mesprit. It represents e-emotion. And the third one is Azelf, the Willpower Pokemon. They say the trio rest in l-lakebeds, so most people think the th-three great lakes of Sinnoh are where they've b-been hiding all this time."

"Wouldn't be surprised. Legendary Pokemon love their serene lakes. Ever heard of Suicune?"

"I drew it," Lucien confirmed. "From a book."

"Oh, you _drew_ it from a book. I'm sorry. I thought you _caught_ it from a book," Bug deadpanned, earning themselves a good-humoured punch on the arm. They snickered. "Well, anyway, it's not fair that you get to tell me about all the Legendary Pokemon you've seen, so let me have my turn." They stuck out their fingers and counted, jokingly spiteful. "Zapdos - and I was only ten, by the way - uh, Suicune, which I saw in person, for like five seconds across a foggy lake - same for Lugia, it was flying over the sea while I was looking out from the Olivine lighthouse-"

"I get it, already!" Lucien shoved Bug gently, grinning, and Bug swayed away and then back into him, bumping him so hard he almost lost his balance. "Ow! L-listen, you do that again and I'll- ow! Get b-back here!"

Waving the sketchbook like a flag, Bug ran off cackling into the mist of Route 210, with Lucien close behind.

* * *

 _Boy these are just getting longer as I go. Hooray for travel buddies and plot!_

 _R &R welcome! Also, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have questions, or if you're wondering about something you'd like to see show up in a later chapter._

 _No promises, but if people show interest in something in particular, I might be able to work it in even if I wasn't originally planning to!_

 _Edit as of 29/12/2015: Tweaked some parts that make it a little less passive-looking from Bug's perspective, but there's not much I can do with this chapter without overhauling big chunks of it, and I already had plans for the next one that'd lay a little more groundwork for fixing the problem anyway. Casual writing is more of a pain than I remember! Thanks to reviewers for giving me pointers! :^)_


	5. Mountain Passive

_Thanks to a helpful crit review, I made a couple of minor edits to the last chapter, but there's not much I can do without overhauling, and hopefully Bug's character should become a little more clear in this one anyway. Thanks to the reviewer, and please don't be afraid to pick out issues or parts that don't work very well - I can take it. :^)_

 _That said, as I just indicated, it'll be a little while before I can direct the flow of the story more how I want it to go, as well as develop the characters a little more realistically. This is a casual project, so it's gonna be bumpy._

* * *

Picking their way across a wooden bridge, their footsteps seemed to echo eerily into the canyon below. Route 210 was much foggier than either trainer had expected going in - they'd assumed a breeze would pick up, or the haze would lift as the day drew on, but clearly the weather wasn't going anywhere.

"You can hear running water, right?" Bug asked, after a long silence had stretched between them.

Lucien's voice came from unexpectedly close behind them, and they flinched. "There's a w-waterfall around here somewhere," he confirmed, and Bug heard the pages of a guidebook being turned. "To our left, I think..."

"Sounds like the other way to me."

"It's bouncing off the c-canyon wall. It's on our l-left, definitely."

Bug hummed, unconvinced.

Both trainers kept their Pokemon in their Pokeballs - the bridges were uncomfortably narrow, despite how sturdy they seemed, and as the route led them in a twisting path through the canyon, it seemed unlikely they'd come into contact with anything bigger than a Geodude. Still, the fog was making them both uneasy, and despite their better logic, Bug had a sneaking suspicion they were being followed.

"You're too close. Back up a bit, will you?"

Lucien laughed. "W-what, and lose track of y-you? This isn't an episode of Scooby-Doom, I'm s-staying close."

"At least give me some room. I feel like you're gonna tread on my heels."

Sighing, Lucien drifted a little further back, his footsteps fading a little in the fog.

Bug tried to relax, keeping their eyes fixed ahead, but the seasonal chill and the damp fog was doing nothing for their nerves. "Don't you have any other Pokemon? One with wings or a fan or something?"

"I have a Defog TM," Lucien replied helpfully.

"Great," Bug said, in the furthest possible tone from 'great'. "Teach it to Porygon-Z. Maybe it can glitch away the fog."

"Don't," Lucien said sharply. "You sh-shouldn't talk about it like that if you d-don't know anything about it."

The other trainer winced, realising their mistake, and rushed out an apology. "Sorry. I didn't think it was... you know, a Thing." They stopped abruptly, pebbles skittering away underfoot and bouncing down the sudden dip in front. A hand grabbed their backpack, yanking them back a step. "Whoa."

"Careful. It's g-getting dark..."

Bug waited until Lucien had let go, and gingerly peered over the edge with their weight on their back foot. "Long way down," they remarked. "But it looks doable. Uh... Do you think we're gonna get to Solaceon tonight? Does the guidebook say it's close?"

Lucien shook his head. "N-no. We're not even halfway. Do you want to s-set up camp, or something?"

"I thought it might be a good idea," Bug admitted. "Normally I can keep going all night, but in weather like this I don't think that's a good idea."

"We sh-should get off the path, then." He drew parallel with the other trainer and took a careful look over the edge. "I think w-we can manage that. Here's hoping it's f-flat down there, because I don't f-feel like sleeping on rocks."

Lucien volunteered to go first, carefully scrambling down the rocky incline hand after foot. Traversing a scree slope in the darkening fog was harder than navigating the rocky cave earlier, but he'd been right - it was possible with a little effort. Once he reached a point where he could see the bottom through the fog, it was an easy slide down to ground level.

"Safe!" he called up, squinting up at the dim haze. "I'll s-stand back. Your turn!"

"Okay, one minute..." came the faint reply.

At the top of the slope, Bug had grown suspicious. The uncomfortable feeling from earlier had only intensified once Lucien had gone on ahead, and they found themselves glancing around nervously for the source.

 _It's nothing,_ they told themselves. _Paranoia, or something, after that creepy house in the woods._

But as a dark shape drifted into view through the fog, Bug felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand on end.

"Are you coming?" Lucien waited uneasily at the bottom of the slope, hoping to see the familiar human shape come after him, but Bug was stalling. "It's not really that s-steep! Just slide down on all fours, it's eas-"

An alarmed squawk from the top of the cliff cut him off, followed by a miniature avalanche of stones and shrapnel. But, curiously, no falling trainer.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. And then:

"I'm fine!"

Lucien let out the breath he'd been holding.

At the top of the slope, Bug stood at an off-balance angle to the cliff, shaking slightly with the shock of almost falling. The reason they hadn't was attached to their wrist by two thin strings, tipped with heart shapes and coiled tightly around their arm. On the other end of these was a small but determined purple balloon, its beady eyes scrunched shut as it struggled to keep the human upright.

Ever so carefully, Bug slid one foot forwards, finding a foothold and redistributing their weight so they could stand unaided.

"It's okay," they offered, "I'm okay. I'm good."

"Floo," it said, and stopped pulling - though it didn't detach itself. "...Floo! Floon-floon, Drif!" The Pokemon seemed to be apologising frantically, looking distraught, and Bug felt a smile creep onto their face.

"Hey, I'm okay. It's cool. You just scared me." They turned to peer down the slope, the fog obscuring the bottom, and shifted slightly. "Shall we go down? Let's go. Can't be up here all day..."

Still muttering reassurance to the Pokemon that had accidentally spooked them, Bug began their descent in earnest. The Drifloon didn't let go, but it was letting Bug do the work, simply tied to their wrist and letting itself be pulled as easily as if it were an inanimate object. Still, by the look of concentration on its face, Bug suspected it was ready to come to the rescue if they slipped.

As their foot touched down on gravel, they felt Lucien put a steadying hand on their backpack, and after a moment they stood comfortably on solid ground looking none the worse for wear.

"W-who's that?" he asked, approaching the Pokemon still wrapped tightly to Bug's arm, and it stared back at him blankly.

Bug laughed weakly, still kind of shaken. "I, er... dunno. I saw it back at the Windworks - you know, near Floarama Town..." They addressed the Drifloon, trying to sound accusing. "Have you been following me?"

"Floo," it said plainly.

"Thanks for saving me." Bug had sort of forgotten how difficult it had been to read back then, but they were being reminded now. Drifloon's face had returned to being as impassive as a wet sock. "Are you the same Pokemon I met before?" There was no response. "What do you want?" Nothing. Bug gave it a suspicious look. "Did you want another cookie?"

"Floo," it said, perking up.

Lucien chuckled. "S-seems like it likes you."

"Seems like it likes sweets to me," Bug replied dubiously. "Look, let's get set up for tonight. We can talk about my stalker when I'm warm."

The artist nodded, pulling out his Pokeball and tossing it to the ground. "Porygon-Z, can you g-go look for some wood? We'll s-see if we can get a f-fire going."

* * *

That night, the two trainers sat in sleeping bags around their small, twig-fuelled fire and shared cereal bars. They'd discovered to their disapproval that the small piece of land they'd chosen was directly beside the water, just around the corner from the waterfall, and the damp seemed to have attracted insects. Still, both were used to roughing it, and it was already too dark to move.

They both felt fairly strongly about the Drifloon situation, and despite the Pokemon still lingering as if it were a part of their group, neither felt awkward about voicing their opinion in front of it. The Pokemon seemed fairly passive about the whole thing.

"Look, i-it obviously likes you. That l-little Romeo's been following you since Floaroma, and you still don't w-want to catch it?"

Bug flashed him a sulky look. He'd been pushing the matter for almost an hour, between conversations about the upcoming route and Solaceon Town, and Bug was getting tired of it. "It's not that simple. We have, like, a status quo now. What if it's only comfortable with me because it knows I _won't_ throw a Pokeball at it?"

"You're impossible," Lucien sighed. "If you don't d-do it, someone else will. A-and they might not be as k-kind to it. You saw what happened in town back there. S-something weird's going on in S-Sinnoh right now. A Pokemon like that shouldn't be wandering on its own anyway. Sh-shouldn't it be in a... a flock, or something?"

"Dunno. If you're so confident you know what it wants, why don't you ask it?" They gestured to the Drifloon, who was staring just as blankly at the fire as it had been five minutes ago, and five minutes before that. "All you'll get is - is that _look._ It's been doing it since we met. I can't _read_ that."

Locking eyes with the Drifloon, Lucien paused.

"Floo," it said plainly.

He burst out laughing and almost choked on his cereal bar.

"Pfft... L-look, it's cute. A-and it obviously wants to f-follow you around. It's not that hard to figure out..."

"We don't know for sure what it wants, Luke! I don't even know what gender it is!" Bug hissed. In their lap, Stat craned her neck up to nibble at the cereal bar its trainer was neglecting.

"You're being ridiculous." Lucien eyed the other trainer dubiously. "A-and besides, th-that's never stopped you before."

Bug narrowed their eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Um," Lucien began, his gaze dropping to the Luxio in their lap. "Uh, w-well... You've b-been calling your Luxio a _he_ since we met, that's all." A long, awkward pause stretched between them, and seeing the dawning look of horror on Bug's face, he fought to keep from smiling. "I-I was going to s-say something, but... Stat didn't seem to mind..."

"Are you serious." The trainer looked down at their Pokemon, mortified, and scratched it behind the ear. "Stat. Was I wrong? Tell me I wasn't." They already knew the answer.

Stat, not remotely interested in what was being discussed, continued chewing their mouthful of stolen cereal bar with her catlike eyes squinted almost shut in a pleased expression.

"Check your Pokedex if you don't believe me," he said. "But trust me, I know what a f-female Luxio looks like - they're pretty c-common. She has the blue socks a-and a short mane."

"I think I'm going to die," Bug declared, sinking lower into their sleeping bag until only their face was visible.

Lucien snickered. "I-if nobody at the Pokemon Centres t-told you, that's b-because it wasn't important. Stat obviously w-wasn't bothered by it," he tried, but Bug had already pulled the front of their sleeping bag over their face to hide their embarrassment. "All I'm trying to say is, knowing e-everything about your Pokemon isn't always th-that important. I b-barely know anything about Porygon-Z."

Hearing its name, the Pokemon that was resting on the ground beside him made a piercing noise and twitched its head to one side, pressing it against his arm. Lucien petted it reflexively and watched the Drifloon slowly float over to Bug's side and tether itself to a rock.

Rexxie attempted to prod her trainer through the sleeping bag, hoping for more snacks, but upon getting no response, she sniffed disdainfully and walked over to pester Lucien instead.

"D-did I ever t-tell you how we met?" he said after a while, breaking off a piece of health bar and feeding it to the Croconaw.

There came a muffled groan of affirmation.

"I w-was in the Unovan s-subway, and th-there was this shady-looking guy selling TMs in the s-station. He had a Porygon, a-and he w-was demonstrating the TMs by teaching it different moves o-over and over."

"Sounds annoying," Bug replied, still hiding in their sleeping bag. It was hard to believe they were still listening, but Lucien decided he'd take what he could get.

"Th-that's what I thought. They were b-bootlegged, too. You could tell. He tried to teach it Round, b-but it ended up b-being mislabelled, and it learned Hyper Beam instead. It nearly blew a hole in the subway." Porygon-Z buried its head under Lucien's arm, its beak-like face sticking out comically. He patted it gently. "I argued w-with the guy. It's n-not fair to use a P-Pokemon like that, right? He was being a real j-jerk about it, but he said if I bought all the TMs he'd th-throw the Porygon in for f-free. It w-was the only way he was gonna b-budge." Lucien pulled his Pokemon halfway onto his lap, and it made a noise that almost sounded like a sigh - if it was run through a broken synthesiser. "I th-think he was a little s-scared of it after the TM misfired. P-probably the only reason he agreed. W-when he passed everything over w-with the Pokeball, I didn't realise anything had happened until I l-let it out on the subway and it had evolved into Porygon-2."

Bug was silent for a while, and Lucien almost thought they'd fallen asleep, but then they shuffled uncomfortably and sat up to stare at the fire. "...So... the second time it evolved..."

"No. I don't w-want to talk about that. W-we got s-separated in Eterna, but..." He paused, thinking it over again, then defended his decision with a shake of his head. "Th-the less you hear about Team Galactic, the b-better."

"Team _anything_ sounds like bad news, after Kanto. I'm sorry I asked. But that's who the big building belonged to, right?"

Lucien shrugged. "Th-the police got involved after some strong trainer went in and exposed the place. I s-stayed in Eterna after that. I n-needed a break." He glanced up and met Bug's eyes, looking guilty. "I w-was sort of hoping someone w-would come along and let me t-travel with them. I d-didn't feel so good about it after me and Porygon got r-reunited."

They stared back for a while, until Lucien looked away first, and then flopped backwards and stared up at the foggy sky instead. "I'm sorry I said what I did, okay? ...But, you know, it's hard for me to just..." They glanced up at the Balloon Pokemon still tethered beside their sleeping bag, and sighed. "I don't like playing the hero, Luke. If I catch a Pokemon, it's got to be on fair terms - you know, healthy versus healthy, encountered on its home turf... Some stuff happened in Hoenn. It's sort of a _thing_ with me."

"Not getting to the Pokemon League doesn't m-mean-"

"No, not that. I mean, it was related, but... I'll talk about it some other time. Let's just sleep on it. Okay?"

The annoyed tone had disappeared from Bug's voice after his Porygon story, and despite his better judgement, Lucien eventually nodded.

"I-I won't make you talk about it, if you don't m-make me talk about... that."

"You got it," Bug answered, shuffling around to get more comfortable. Their mood seemed to have lifted quickly now that they'd come to an agreement. "Let's just go to sleep. We've got to get to Solaceon tomorrow."

* * *

"What do you mean, you _can't_ send-?" Bug paced back and forth at the water's edge, one hand buried firmly in their short, black hair. "Promised? To who? But - why?"

Lucien, so far surprisingly patient, was pencilling in a rough draft on a new page of his sketchbook.

"But - I told someone I'd give them... No, I know. Going back on it would be rubbish of me. Of course I don't mind. If they ran out of starters... She's only little." They paused, outdated Pokégear still pressed against their ear, and sagged. "Yeah. I guess it's fine. Look, I'm sorry, it's just - I'm - there are some great people here, you know? So I thought it'd be cool to... No, yeah. That's fine. Just... let me know if you ever run across another. Tell the admins I'll trade nearly any Kanto Pokemon for a Chikorita. That might get some attention on the GTS."

In front of the artist, Porygon-Z struggled to hold its pose with a heavy Croconaw on its back, both doing their best to stay still for the sketch.

"Cro," said Rexxie, wobbling precariously. Their positioning had been her idea, but the Pokemon underneath her had a bad habit of twitching and moving unexpectedly, and it was starting to make her nervous.

"Just another minute," Lucien muttered, his attention focused sharply on his art.

Bug paused in front of the water, looking a little crestfallen. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll train it myself, I know what I'm doing. Sorry for snapping, I just... Thanks. Yeah. Talk soon."

"Trouble in paradise?" Lucien asked, without looking up.

Bug sighed heavily. "My aunt looks after my Pokemon when I'm not around, and she gave my Chikorita to my little cousin. I was going to give it to someone I met in Sinnoh, but that's... that's, you know, fine."

Rexxie shook slightly with the effort of staying still. Porygon-Z twitched again, and the crocodilian Pokemon lost her balance, tipping forwards and backwards with a distressed yelp - and then she crashed into the water.

"Wow. You really put them through hoops," Bug snickered, momentarily distracted from their phone call.

Porygon-Z made a static noise and floated down to pull the Croconaw to shore. As alien as it was, Lucien's Pokemon did seem just as caring as any other, once you got past the confusing noises and sometimes-alarming body language. Rexxie, at least, seemed to have made good friends with it, and growled out a confirmation that she was unharmed as she crawled out of the water.

"Heh. Take five, guys. I'm d-done for now, anyway." Lucien flipped his sketchbook shut and looked up at Bug with a smile. "Sorry. She was s-so interested in my sketchbook, I thought I'd draw her. You guys can k-keep it when I'm done."

"I'll bet it turns out amazing. You really deserve that illustration job, Luke."

He shrugged bashfully and packed it away into his bag. "I got a couple of s-sketches of the scenery, now that the fog's lifted a l-little. Makes me miss working from real life. Pictures on w-walls and pages can be s-so... static."

After packing up their things and scrambling back up to the main pathway, the pair made good progress. The canyon opened out, after a while, into a lightly-forested path. Shortly afterwards, they found themselves following each other closely through grass that was even taller than they were. Occasionally they'd catch a yellow flash of the occasional Psyduck darting away into the green, or hear the mournful tune of a Kricketune's signals on the breeze, but otherwise the route seemed almost too quiet.

Reaching Solaceon, as it turned out, only raised more of a disconcerting feeling.

"Does this place look deserted to you?" Bug asked.

Despite it being late morning, and surprisingly good weather for the season, no one was around. Only Murkrow seemed to be perched along the roofs and circling in the sky, and this served to give both humans an ominous feeling as they made their way along the main thoroughfare.

They headed for the familiar red roof of the Pokemon Centre, and when the glass doors slid open, a tired-looking nurse greeted them with a wave. A small boy with dark circles under his eyes hung onto her apron, and on the counter perched a Hoothoot, gently tilting its head back and forth in perfect tempo.

Bug and Lucien were getting uncomfortable.

"Hello, dears. Would you like me to heal your Pokemon?"

"Actually... I was wondering, what's up with town? Is everyone off somewhere?"

The nurse sighed and shook her head. "No, but you're quite right to be confused. You two were quite lucky, in fact... We were about to call for a quarantine. Oh - don't worry, it's nothing contagious!" She waved off their looks of shock in a hurry. "We believe it might be a Pokemon's doing, but... well, everyone in town keeps falling asleep, and when they do..." The boy at her side buried his face in her skirt, and she patted him on the shoulder consolingly. "Nightmares. Nasty ones, really. And it's very difficult to wake up. Most of the town is afflicted, but no one's really hurt - we called the League as soon as we realised it wasn't a passing thing. But, you two... You should move on quickly, if you don't want to spend a quite unpleasant night here. It's a pity, Solaceon is _such_ a pretty town usually, but this little mystery has everyone off their best."

"A-and when was the last time y-you slept?"

She shook her head calmly. "Don't you worry about me. I have Chansey using Heal Bell if I get too sleepy on the job... I manage a little every night. Now, do take my advice - you should move on through to Veilstone or Hearthome while this is all sorted out, alright?"

"Understood," Bug answered, glancing at Lucien over the top of their glasses. He had an odd glint in his eyes, and it was making them nervous.

When they were outside, he turned on Bug with a frown.

"W-we have to do something."

"What?" Bug glanced around, as if he could be talking to anybody else, and shook their head unhappily. "Don't be nuts. We're no detectives, and you heard her - we should just move on. Whatever's going on here-"

"-Is our business as trainers," he responded firmly. "I actually c-can't believe you'd want to leave this alone. D-didn't you finish two Gym c-circuits already?"

"Whoa," Bug rushed, holding up their hands defensively, "not the same thing as playing detective. What if it's not a Pokemon? Do you want to get sick?"

"What else could be doing it? D-do you really think it could be some kind of disease?" he snapped. "B-besides, this is e-exactly the sort of thing the League calls on trainers to d-do. It's c-called volunteering, Bug."

 _"Volunteering-!"_

Bug almost punched him. Sighing heavily, they turned away and skimmed a hand through their hair, ending with their arm hanging from the back of their neck. This wasn't the easy route they'd been hoping for. And ahead of them, the open road ran both ways, to other towns, safer towns... towns presumably not afflicted by some mysterious sleeping sickness.

Quietly, Lucien continued. "If you want t-to go, that's fine. Me and Porygon w-will investigate."

 _He's a total idiot,_ Bug thought. _And he's right. This is exactly what trainers are supposed to do._

"What else are badges for?" they asked uneasily, turning back to face him. "Fine. Let's play fake police. But if we get murdered by something big and nasty with teeth, I'll see you on the other side and hit you so hard you come back to life."

Looking grumpy, Lucien shrugged. "Then let's go back inside. The nurse might know something we don't."

On the roofs of the buildings nearby, a murder of Murkrow jostled for position, cawing at the two interlopers as if warning them or laughing at them - or both. Both trainers flashed them an unimpressed glare before heading indoors.

* * *

 _R &R welcome! People have been both helpful and encouraging so far, and after not writing anything for such a long time, it's nice to get to type up a story as I go like I used to way back when. Kind of nostalgic! (And a lot more challenging than I remember.)_

 _Thanks for bearing with me until now, and please don't be afraid to let me know if you're still reading! It's very helpful to know there are people who might want another chapter, and I'm trying to keep writing as much as I can without stressing myself TOO much about getting it perfect (though of course I'm trying to develop my writing skills on the way). So, in short, reviews of any sort are much appreciated. You guys are cool!_


	6. Bad Weather

_To the reviewer who was asking, Bug is referred to as 'they' because they aren't either a girl or a boy. Looking up 'agender' on some reputable websites might help you! Anyone can also feel free to PM me on the matter and we can discuss it in person - a fanfiction isn't a great place to explain something like that when the story already assumes some prior understanding._

 _In short, don't be afraid to come chat to me about it if you're confused about that or any other aspect of the story._

 _Anyway, buckle your seatbelts - this chapter is kind of a bumpy one._

* * *

"We should _not_ be doing this."

"Shh. I can h-hear something." Lucien crept forwards, Bug tiptoeing after him like some kind of uncomfortable raptor, and tilted his head. "I _thought_ I did..."

"We're _so_ gonna get _ate."_

"Shush. Can you let Stat out? It's getting darker the further we go."

Bug fumbled with the Pokeball, and ended up dropping it quite by accident instead of the elegant throw they'd been going for. The sound of the ball activating was followed by a yawn as Stat shook out her fur and, seeing the darkness, lit up her tail.

"Stat - oh, good, yeah. Keep doing that... Hey!" Bug hissed suddenly as the Pokemon trotted confidently on ahead of them, and reached out to try and grab her tail. They missed. "Where are you-?"

"Even your Pokemon's m-more adventurous than you are," Lucien scoffed, and set off after the Luxio.

The two trainers were not on good terms. Bug was still highly dubious about their self-imposed mission, and Lucien was still feeling pretty righteous about the whole thing - after all, it was their _duty_ to protect the world they lived in. Didn't the League members always say so?

Cynthia had tried, at least.

"He's nuts. Don't you think he's nuts, Romeo?"

 _"Floo."_

"Wait, wait." Bug tugged his jacket, and Lucien made an irritated noise. "No, wait! Look. What's that? Stat, come over here."

Lifting the Luxio into their arms so as to better light up the walls, Bug stepped closer and shook their head so that their glasses dropped down onto their nose. Lucien doubled back to join them, squinting at the little symbols inscribed there.

"L-looks like weird letters..."

Bug paled. "Listen, we should leave, this kind of place is - we're not supposed to be here."

"What are you, s-superstitious? We're n-not leaving. The lady at the Pokemon Centre said the Solaceon Ruins are p-probably the best place to look."

"Well, she also said it might be the Lost Tower! _And_ she told us not to bother! Why don't we just leave this to the League, like she said?" Seeing Lucien lose interest in the letters and start moving away, Bug felt a surge of panic. "Listen, we can't be here. People have gotten abducted, Luke! You have no idea - it was all over the news in Johto, some scientist just _disappeared-"_

"Do you think she'd have given us d-directions if it w-was something we couldn't handle?"

"I don't know, Luke! She was half-asleep! And we'll end up with permanent sinkhole eyes too, or _worse,_ if we don't leave this whole business alone!"

He unclipped his solitary Pokeball and gripped it tightly. "As l-long as we have our Pokemon, w-we'll be okay."

"I really don't feel like you're taking me seriously," Bug muttered, holding onto Stat like a lifeline. A Luxio was much heavier than a Shinx, but at least the weight was giving them something to think about other than the dark passageways ahead and the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. "Do you feel like something's following us?"

The presence of the Drifloon hanging onto their bag was reassuring. At least someone could watch the party's rear. A couple of years of Dungeons & Dragonites had taught Bug that particular necessity, and they were determined to cover all bases. If they were going to be dragged into some terrifying dungeon of low mortality rates, at the very least, Bug wanted allies who were _serious_ about it. So far, Lucien didn't seem to be anywhere near as afraid as they were, and that wasn't remotely encouraging.

"If you want me to t-take you seriously, d- _do_ something. L-like... something c-conducive to what we're doing here." He paused, glancing over his shoulder. "Can you r-read those letters as we go? You're the one with the l-light-up Luxio."

"Wow, sure. They're spelling out... _"These ruins are a murder labyrinth."_ Wow! And the next part says, _"You're both gonna get murdered!"_ And you know, it sure was nice of them to let us know. _Let's leave immediately."_

"D-don't be dumb."

Bug rolled their eyes, kicking at the stony floor to express their frustration. Somewhere in the darkness behind them, they could have sworn they heard footsteps. _Just your imagination._

"Fine." They squinted harder at the letters. "If you're going to be stubborn... _"DREAM"_. That's what it says. It's just the word _"DREAM"_ over and over." Bug watched the walls as they went, but the letters didn't change. "With the state of the town out there, that word doesn't make me feel any better. Please, let's just give this up and go. I'm not cut out for this. And I don't think we're alone in here."

"Shh!" Lucien stopped abruptly, holding his finger to his lips, and waited for Bug to catch up. "Can you hear that?"

"No," they said, without listening. But, in the silence that followed, a faint sound began to fade in as their ears adjusted. "Yeah. Yep. Creepy whispers. Let's go."

"Would you s- _stop_ complaining?" Lucien hissed. "Listen. What's it s-saying?"

The two stood in silence for a few seconds, but the voice had already died off.

"I don't think we're c-close enough... Keep moving."

Giving a stifled groan of defeat, Bug followed like a shadow as Lucien made his way deeper into the ruins. It wasn't so much the darkness or the ruins themselves that Bug was afraid of. It was what might lurk within.

These places were always built with the word "tomb" close to mind, and anything that had been left standing after hundreds or thousands of years was always protected. Usually by something otherworldly.

There were far too many stories of mysterious Pokemon that condemned or cursed all who trespassed in their domain, and sometimes stories on the news of disappearances were tied far too closely to old legends or long-untouched shrines for Bug to simply dismiss them as an accident. Sometimes, they felt like the only one who picked up on it. Besides, Bug had seen these markings before.

 _"...own..."_

The trainer froze in their tracks.

"Oh my... _No._ You heard that. Don't you dare tell me you didn't hear that, Luke."

"I h-heard it," Lucien replied, in a voice barely above a whisper. "But where's it c-coming from?"

"You _cannot_ be serious."

"Lux!" The Pokemon's voice echoed dangerously, and Stat struggled out of Bug's arms to gallop ahead with heavy, too-loud paw thumps. Bug followed, more out of panic at being left in the dark than in the hope Stat might know a way out, and Lucien hurried after them both.

A Luxio's ears were much better than a human's, and it seemed Lucien had been correct in saying Stat was more adventurous than Bug had realised. Perhaps they should have known, after nearly losing her in the Chateau - Stat was faster than she looked.

"Stat, you idiot, stop! Wait for me!"

"Floo!" Alarmed, the Drifloon held on tightly to Bug's bag, shutting its eyes tight against the inertia as the trainer changed direction.

"Stat, please!"

"Keep going! Y-you find that v-voice!"

 _"Don't encourage her!"_

They ran through crumbling doorwards and up and down gravelly stairs, until Bug was nearly certain they'd been going in circles. And then, all at once, Stat skidded to a halt with a clash of claws on stone. Her trainer, still running at full tilt, didn't react quickly enough - and tripped over her, flew forwards through the doorway, and smacked their face hard against the stone floor.

 _"Lux!"_

"Bug!"

A second or two passed, the Drifloon gingerly letting go of their bag and floating down to touch at their face with the heart-shaped tip of one balloon string. The trainer sniffed wetly, tasting iron, and slowly picked themselves up onto their hands and knees. Despite distantly hoping someone would rush to help them up, nobody seemed to have moved.

 _"Unown."_

Bug looked up.

All around the ancient chamber, small black shapes cycled and span, in a pattern that formed multiple layers of perfect spheres. A faint blueish glow emanated from each of them, but it was more focused in the centre.

Most of the letters were gibberish. Some, however, formed the word "DREAM", repeated at random in the rotating matrix of Pokemon.

"A-are you alright-?"

Lucien's voice seemed to remind the Pokemon that something should be done - or perhaps the initial surprise had simply worn off. The patterns quickened, and the softly-chanting voices became louder and higher. Something was about to go very wrong.

"What the... Bug, g-get out of there!"

The chanting reached a fever pitch, and the Unown pulsed outwards.

"Luke-!"

Several things happened at once.

First, the presence Bug had felt since they'd set foot in the Solaceon Ruins revealed itself. A small, white Pokemon sprang gracefully out of the shadows beyond the doorway and landed lightly by Bug's side, touching their shoulder and giving an echoing cry.

Second, Stat recovered from the moment's shock and leapt to her trainer's aid, grabbing their coat in her jaws and tensing to drag the human backwards and out of harm's way.

Third, Lucien opened his mouth to shout something.

 _"Get out of the-"_

And then Bug landed heavily in the snow.

 _"Kirlii!"_

Stat spat out a mouthful of coat and shook herself, adopting a fighting stance a half-second later and growling fervently.

At Bug's back, the Drifloon called out in fear as the wind immediately rendered its stabilising instincts null, and its ropelike appendages held onto the backpack like a lifeline.

The human, reacting more out of shock from the sudden cold than anything else, shot up onto their knees with a ragged gasp and pawed at their face to get rid of the freezing snow now caked on their skin.

 _Snow._

Bug felt their breath come in loud, shallow gasps. They were in the ruins just a moment ago - weren't they? Shaking, the trainer lifted one leg with some difficulty and stomped their foot down into the snow, using it as leverage to stagger upright.

The sudden movement dislodged the Pokemon that had been gripping their shoulder, and the Kirlia fell backwards with a cry that was whipped away by the wind. Stat jumped awkwardly forwards, her paws disappearing into a deep snowdrift, and leaned against her trainer's legs to try and steady the human against the weather.

All three stared around at the blinding white snowscape, and despite the sleet dashing against their face, Bug could see that they were royally screwed over.

"Tuh..." Bug failed to make the word on the first try, but the second came out far louder than they'd expected. "Take us back."

"Kir?"

 _"Take us back!"_ They whirled around to face the Psychic Pokemon, clapping a hand to their face to stem the nosebleed that was threatening to freeze on their face. "This isn't _better!_ Where did you put us!?"

"K-Kirlia! Kir-Kir!"

"Shut up! Take us back!"

The hand not clasping their injured nose closed around the small Pokemon's shoulders, and it took Bug a second or two of sizing up the smaller Pokemon to realise they'd dropped to their knees again. Bug sniffed, feeling tears well up in their eyes (and more blood well up in their nose) and stared the terrified Pokemon down.

"...You can't," they guessed hollowly. "It wasn't you."

"K-Kir..."

Perhaps they would have remained like that forever, had Stat not moved in to lick her trainer's face.

Bug's shoulders sagged, and after another wet sniff, they zipped up their coat and slipped an arm over their Luxio's back. The other hand let go of their nose, and wrapped around the Kirlia's waist. In one shaky movement, Bug rose to their feet again, the two Pokemon tucked under their arms to lift them out of the snow. Bug let out a strangled noise that was somewhere between anger and resignation, and ended in a telling sob.

"I didn't ask for this," they murmured, taking their first step towards what looked like the one solid shape amidst the snowstorm. "This isn't my fault. It's yours."

Cowed and confused, the Kirlia went limp and covered its face with two dainty green hands. Clearly it had meant to play the hero, and maybe Kirlia jumping out like that had contributed to the Unown's _blatant overreaction._ Well, Bug wasn't about to pretend they weren't angry. Or _afraid._

In their other arm, Stat made an apologetic noise. She was cold, and out of place, and lost - and she was fairly certain she'd failed her trainer somehow.

Bug kept walking, and made no attempt to reassure either of them.

* * *

Lucien splashed through the mud in a panic. It was only up to his knees in most places, but being dumped into it from three feet in the air _upside-down_ hadn't done him any favours. His once thin and floaty mousey hair was plastered unpleasantly to the sides of his face. Perhaps, if he found civilisation again, someone would mistake him for a Muk and try to catch him.

Not trusting his voice, he tossed his Pokeball wordlessly out into the mire. His Pokemon appeared with a whirl of flailing limbs and its whole body seemed to pause in mid-air as it caught sight of the state of its trainer. It made a low, confused noise.

Letting a wave of relief sweep through him as Porygon-Z darted down to let him throw a muddy arm over its back, Lucien consoled himself with the fact that his Pokemon had stayed with him. The Unown hadn't separated them. That, he could be grateful for. Now to find out where they'd been sent.

Together they made for some higher ground, Luciens shoes slipping unfavourably in the mud, and he reminded himself once again why he had become an artist.

 _All the adventure, no real risk._ He felt Porygon strain against gravity to keep him upright, and once they reached the top of a spongy hill, he collapsed onto all fours to give himself a rest. _Well, you sure put everyone at risk this time. The moment you stop drawing and get distracted with a real adventure, that's where it all falls down. You know this, and you did it anyway._

Porygon-Z chimed dolefully at him, nosing under his arm again to try and lift him to his feet.

"Sh-shh, I'm f-fine. J-just muddy. C-can you... see B-Bug anyw-where?"

Floating up to survey their surroundings, Porygon-Z made a spiralling, dismayed sort of noise. Turning in a full circle, it perked up, pointing with both smooth fins. **"R-r-r-** _y-y-y!"_

Lucien flopped onto his backside, taking a few calming gulps of air, and wiped his face with one hand. "S-something else?"

He managed to get most of the mud out of his eyes, and looked up, blinking rapidly.

A dark-skinned girl in a red and white polka-dotted raincoat was staring at him from the marsh on the other side of the hill, clutching a red umbrella to herself and looking fairly bewildered. A Castform peeped out from her shoulder, her shiny black ponytail draped comically over its head.

"Excuse me," she hazarded, realising he'd noticed her. She put on a forced polite smile, trying to stave off the laughter that was quite obviously about two steps from breaking. "Did you say you were looking for bugs?"

"Er," said the mud monster.

"Because I think there are some Yanma in Area Five today, and..." She brought up a hand to daintily cover her mouth as her smile spread wider. Her fingernails were painted with the same white-dots-on-red as her coat. "...I think some Drapion are visiting Area Six... oh, my."

The dam of laughter broke. She doubled over, giggling uncontrollably, and Lucien nearly slipped in his hurried attempt to stand upright.

"It's n-not funny," he insisted. "It's _n-not._ I-I've lost someone. Ha-have you s-seen someone in a b-big black c-coat? Has a... a Croconaw and a... S-stop laughing! I..." He trailed off, eyebrows knitting together in disdain. Caked with mud, they only served to make him look more alien. "...F-forget it. C-come on, Porygon. W-we're leaving."

Forcing herself to straighten up, the girl shook her head. "Oh, please don't wander off! I'm sorry! Listen, I can take you to the exit. It looks like you don't know the Great Marsh too well..."

* * *

The shape Bug had been aiming for, as it happened, was a copse of ice-covered pine trees and not - as they'd hoped - a house or a building or any other sign of civilisation. They'd have even settled for a cave, really, but as it happened they would have to take what scarce shelter they could get, putting a tree between themselves and the worst of the biting wind.

Somewhere along the way they had dropped Stat into the snow and returned her to her Pokeball, deciding that the comfort of having their Pokemon around wasn't worth the extra weight. Drifloon, still clinging to their bag with everything it had, was being typically quiet. In some far-off thought, Bug decided it was being commendably cooperative. After all, they didn't feel like talking, either. At least they could all brood in silence.

Curling up on the leeward side of a tree, they momentarily unzipped their coat and roughly shoved Kirlia and Drifloon inside it, then they tucked their face into the coat and patted their hood down over the top. This created the most cramped space anyone had ever tried to pass off as a shelter, but at least it was something. No one could see them looking uncomfortable and ridiculous out here. No one would see them at all, if this storm didn't pass soon.

In the relative warmth of the coat tent, Kirlia's reflective pink eyes stared up at the human from where it was involuntarily pressed up against their side. It looked apprehensive.

Bug stared blankly ahead, chewing absently on their lip. In all honesty, they felt too shellshocked to do any real scolding. It was almost five minutes before they had the presence of mind to fish out their PokéGear from a pocket and slip their arms all the way into the cramped, zipped-up coat. (At least it was a _big_ coat. Bug's personal "rule of comfy" when shopping had ruled out anything more reasonably-sized.) The motion was uncomfortable in such a small space, and the two Pokemon were jostled against the human's knees.

"Floon..."

"Quiet," Bug snapped. Their cold thumbs slowly found the right buttons, but as if to spite them, the signal was dead. Either the weather conditions were interfering with the signal, or they were further away from civilisation than they'd hoped.

Leaning back and sighing heavily (and relishing in the momentary burst of warmth that brought with it), Bug finally turned their attention to Kirlia.

"So." The Pokemon stared back. "You Teleported us into the middle of nowhere."

"...Kirlia..."

Another sigh, this time a little less exasperated. The Pokemon sounded afraid, and this was no time to make enemies with something they felt too guilty to run away from. "I... kind of figured you didn't mean to do it. ...Listen, weird stuff happens around Unown. I'm just glad I didn't get _abducted."_

"Kir..."

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook," the trainer added quickly. "But if you really don't mean me any harm, then... then I guess we're stuck with each other."

"Lia?" It shifted uncomfortably.

Bug waited until they were sure of what they wanted to say before speaking again. "...Well... You know, I don't like any of this. But I'm not a monster. I can't just let you two get blown off in a blizzard. And I'm the one with a backpack full of... _stuff,"_ they ventured, deciding that at least some cereal bars and a Potion or two were better than nothing. "So any reasonable person is going to say we're stuck with each other. You know. Anyone who isn't completely evil. Or stupid."

The Pokemon watched them with careful, searching eyes. On their other side, the smooth lump that was the Drifloon gently slipped its strings around their midriff and nuzzled in close.

Bug rested the back of their head against the tree and counted backwards from ten. It did little to alleviate their apprehension, but they slid their hand back out through a sleeve and dug into a pocket of their bag until their fingertips traced the familiar pattern of a Heal Ball.

"Hey, Romeo."

"...Floo?"

"You really know what you want out of life, right?"

"Floo."

"Right. You're a lot more secure than I am, aren't you?" The trainer withdrew their arm back into the warmth, and clicked a button on the front of the Pokeball to enlarge it to full size. The Drifloon stared up at them expectantly. _I guess you can sort of read its expressions, if you're up real close._ "Get in the stupid thing, then."

"Floo!"

Booping the ball gently against the Pokemon's face, Bug watched it click open, and Drifloon disappeared in a rush of red light. The Pokeball snapped shut, and stayed that way. There was no struggle. Bug could console themselves with the knowledge that Drifloon had done it on purpose, at least.

This was how it was supposed to be done. Every trainer in their right mind said so. ...It was just so hard to _believe._

Shuddering, Bug wrapped one arm around Kirlia, and the Pokemon tensed. No, they decided, they weren't quite ready to try the same thing with this one.

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything. I'm just - I'm just cold. And mad." The impotent kind of anger was the only one they could be bothered with. Anything else was so... _draining._

Bug stuck their head back out into the blizzard and rocked to their feet, pinning Kirlia to their side. A cloud of their breath disappeared into the wind.

"Let's keep moving. We don't know when this weather is going to let up. And stay where you are - this way we're both keeping each other warm." A pause. "Maybe I can heat us up with sheer _angry."_

* * *

After what felt like hours later, but (according to their ancient PokéGear) had only really been three-quarters of one, Bug managed to find the shelter they'd been looking for. The impossibly huge shadow of a cliff loomed out of the blizzard, and the trainer made a beeline for it.

It took another twenty minutes of following the base of the cliff before Bug came across anything that could defend them against the weather, and it came in the form of a dubiously small crevice in the cliff face.

While they were examining it, Kirlia struggled again in their coat, then dropped out of the bottom and into the snow. The drifts came well up to its waist, but Kirli wasn't interested.

"Kir-Kir!"

"Can't understand you," Bug replied irritably - then reluctantly softened. Any intuition, they decided, had to be better than theirs. "...Good, or bad?"

The Pokemon glanced up at them uncertainly, putting a green hand to its mouth while it peered back into the crevice and tried to decide. "...Kir?" it hazarded, gesturing into the narrow cave.

Bug heaved a sigh, puffing out an icy cloud of breath, and shrugged. "Good enough. Ladies first."

The Kirlia made a disdainful noise as it obediently stepped forwards, ducking past the cave entrance.

"Wow. Really? Er... sorry." Bug sheepishly followed on all fours, opening their mouth to say something else and yelping as their hips jammed uncomfortably between the rocks. "...Ow. Anyway, it's nothing personal," they explained, "I'm just - you know - bad at telling Pokemon apart. I'm not being dense on purpose. If you don't believe me, ask Stat sometime... Oh. Thanks," Bug offered as the Kirlia dutifully took hold of their arm and braced itself before pulling hard.

Bug struggled to push themselves through the hole, twisting their body with a grunt, and finally crashed into the narrow space face-first.

"Oh, n-no. Ow. Ow, no, that's... really painful."

The trainer pushed themselves upright, delicately touching at their nose with a finger and wincing. Their nosebleed had started up again, dripping actively onto the cave floor, and they felt tears prick at their eyes.

"Kir... Kirlia?"

"Think it's broke," Bug muttered, their consonants strained to avoid putting any air through their nose. "Don't suppose you know Heal Pulse or anything...?"

"Li..."

"Eh." Bug eased themselves into a sitting position, turning sideways to lean more comfortably back against a wall. The cave was pretty shallow, but at least the snow didn't seem to be blowing in. They nursed their injured face and sulked. "Would've happened anyway. I'm an idiot."

The Kirlia fidgeted with its hands, standing with its pointed feet together and not quite daring to make eye contact. It looked oddly like a scolded child.

"Sit down. We're not going any further in this weather. Maybe we can... wait it out."

The Pokemon could see them crying. Still, Bug supposed, it wasn't exactly going to tell anybody. And it wasn't exactly ugly crying - not yet, anyway. A few tears was nothing. Just as long as the water didn't freeze on their face, everything was just fine.

There was a long silence before the Kirlia finally shifted to sit down beside Bug, staring at the floor, and leaned up daringly against the trainer's side.

Feeling a pang of guilt, Bug wrapped an arm around it, fishing in their bag with the other.

"I didn't mean what I said before," they mumbled, "when I said this was your fault. These things happen when you're dealing with Unown. You know?" They pulled out a tissue and held it to their nose, tilting their head back and resting it against the cave wall to try and stem the flow of blood.

"Kirl."

Bug rubbed the Pokemon's shoulder reassuringly, as if trying to console a child, and the two leaned closer together. If they'd been dropped in this mess together, there had to be some solidarity. Or else they might as well be in it alone.

Bug sniffed, the twinge of pain sending another fresh round of tears down their cheeks. "I told Luke I'm not the adventuring type, but that never used to be true. I mean, I fought all the way through two regions, so it couldn't have been, right?" They didn't bother to check if Kirlia was listening. It didn't really matter one way or the other. "It happened back in Hoenn. And it wasn't really about the Gym, either. Every trainer in the region was Surfing to Sootopolis, right to the eye of this huge storm. There were these two Legendary Pokemon in the middle of it, a big nasty dinosaur and a big scary whale fighting like they were going to break the world in half. It's... it's what you do. You look after your region, you volunteer. What's the point in collecting Gym badges if you don't use your strength for good? I felt so brave when I set out."

Kirlia, not quite sure where this was going, tilted its head back to look up at Bug. The trainer's wet-streaked face betrayed very little about their actual mood. They just looked sort of blank.

"So, I joined up with a group of other _heroes,_ and we made it all the way to the Sootopolis entrance. Seemed like a lot of trainers had the same idea." Bug sighed, taking a moment out to think about it before continuing. "...And then everyone started diving. Even the people without Water types were doing it. Everyone was so determined to stop this thing. But I've never dived before in my life - I just floated there in shock with my Linoone, and... and everyone was swimming past, you know, straight past - they were all so focused, it was like I wasn't even there..." The human trailed off, scrubbing at their face with the heel of their palm. "...How humiliating, right? I should have known. I just didn't read the guidebook, that's all. Didn't do my research. So I didn't know. And I was too scared."

"...Kir... lia?"

Bug made a wheezing noise, doing their best to laugh despite the heavy feeling in their chest, and released the Kirlia from the awkward sidelong hug to rest their arms on their knees and sigh into them. "By the time I made it back to Mossdeep with my tail between my legs, I caught the last of it on TV. They did it without me. Knocked out both Legendary Pokemon, and then the League arrived to deal with the aftermath." They sniffed wetly. "You never forget a humiliation like that. I felt like a hero, and then just like that, I felt like a great big loser. My parents probably thought I'd bounce back, but I just... accepted it. Someone's got to fail, right? Not everyone can be a winner, so I figured, cool, that's me sorted. If I accept I'm never gonna do anything big like that, then I can't be disappointed. My job is to be that guy who sticks to the path while all the heroes are off discovering monsters and treasure. I thought I could make it through Sinnoh if I just stuck to the Gyms..."

The Pokemon shook its head, its expression distant and thoughtful, and shifted slightly where it was sitting to cuddle wordlessly into the trainer's side. It seemed to be staring into space, perhaps ignoring Bug altogether or perhaps considering their words carefully. Maybe it was deciding precisely how annoyed to be at their tendency to give up. It wouldn't have surprised Bug.

The trainer turned their head to stare out at the blank whiteness of the ongoing blizzard, squinting through the melting snow on the lens of their glasses. The cold wasn't as biting in here, at least. They could move on when the storm cleared. "Bugs are weak to ice," they mumbled, voice muffled by their coat sleeves. "And pretty much everything else. Most people say Bug types are a joke. They're just kind of _there,_ while everything else goes and beats up Kyogres."

Kirlia closed its eyes and held on a little tighter. Its red horns glowed faintly in the darkness, and Bug felt a pulse of emotional warmth bleed into their mind. The Pokemon was trying to be comforting.

"Yeah. Thanks for trying," Bug sighed, returning their arm to the Pokemon's shoulders. "You can stay with us when this is over, if you want. Play the hero some more. It'd be nice if my team could make up for me being such a dramatic wet blanket."

"Kirlia," it replied softly, patting Bug's hand.

The two stayed like that for some time, waiting patiently in the shadows of the crack in the cliff while the storm spent itself outside.

Slowly, faintly at first but with a growing suspicion, Bug began to notice that something wasn't quite right.

* * *

 _Yes, Bug is referring to something very similar to the events of Ruby/Sapphire - but things play out a little differently in an OC-verse, since it's less fun if May and Brendan (and the other game protagonists) are there to take the spotlight every time there's a Legendary beatdown. In essence, this means you can count on not seeing Dawn or Lucas in this story, since their presence would essentially mean an easy fix for the upcoming plot._

 _I prefer to assign big jobs like that to the "everyman" anyway - it's always been kind of bizarre and jarring to me that among all the implied brave and strong trainers in the world, nobody else apparently steps up to help out the game protags when things go horribly wrong. You can't tell me nobody other than the protagonist is brave enough! Have a care, ya schmucks..._

 _Anyway, as always, reviews are super welcome. Even if I sneak onto the stats page every so often, it's hard to get a feel if people who made it to the latest chapter actually enjoyed it or just came along for the ride to see how bad it'd get! So, by all means - review to your heart's content._


End file.
